A Boy and his Cat
by MisterJoke
Summary: Ash Ketchum did not receive his starting pokemon right before his journey, it was much sooner. Growing up besides a battle-crazy shiny Meowth has changed his life's goal. Ash won't be the Master with the most pokemon in the world, he will be the Master with the very best.
1. Chapter 1

A Boy and his Cat:

AN: Yup, from Naruto to Pokemon. The reason for this fic is really an author in this site. One: 0 Jordino 0. I've been recommend his fictions and when I read the pokemon ones (all three of them), I just couldn't help myself.

This is going to be a real AU fic. And I want to stress the "real" part. I want you guys to think of the "chaos theory" or the "butterfly effect", different Ash means different pokemon, different friends, different rivals and different travel companions. I just hope I'm creative enough for all that.

I plan to make this a long fic, from Kanto to Sinnoh actually. So please sit down and enjoy the story.

Nevertheless, disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon, both the franchise or any of the little buggers. The very few OCs can be used without permission but please send people my way if you do.

Chapter 1: The Journey of a Thousand Steps

"Use Taunt and stay right were you are." the trainer ordered, smiling warmly.

His pokemon, a Meowth, gave no indication that it heard but without any hesitation followed the command. The Cat Scratch pokemon lost it's ready stance and blinked at it's opponents, with a shrug it started liking itself clean. Even if surrounded by half a dozen Spearows.

The birds eyes flared with anger and they all descended as one, readying their becks for Peck.

His smile turning into a smirk, the trainer ordered "Flash. Now."

Crying it's name, Meowth unleashed a blinding light from the coin on it's forehead. Slowing down the Sparrows and even causing a collision between two of them.

"And now Shockwave."

With the very same sound as before the pokemon obeyed and released a thin static wave. The super effective attack nailed the disoriented birds, bringing down two and forcing the rest into retreat, angry or not, that did hurt.

Meowth moved back and sited in front of it's trainer. The boy, with a smile on his face, petted the cat and said "No serious injuries but all soundly defeated. Well done, little lady."

The pokemon purred happily while being returned to her pokeball. Oddly enough, the trainer kept all his pokeballs on his belt and at the left side of his hip, except for Meowth's which was alone on the right side.

"So you're the reason I've found ONE healthy pokemon between here and Pallet." came a voice from behind, turning back the young trainer found someone who started his journey just a few hours later then him "What are you doing Ash?"

Ash was a good looking boy, for a ten year old, he had a slightly tanned skin and clear brown eyes. His black hair used to spike, oddly enough, only at the front and back until he cut it a little shorter, letting it fall on both sides of his face, behind his head and a little on his forehead.

He was wearing a thin white jacket with two pokeballs imprinted on it, one on the right shoulder and the other on his left elbow. The jacket had a high collar but was zipped only until the middle of his chest, showing a simple blue shirt beneath it. The same dark blue was found on his jeans while his sneakers were black and white

"Oh, hey Mike." he great with a smile "We're trying to catch some pokemon."

The other boy's eyes drifted to the downed Sparrow. Ash had made sure they would live and forgotten about them.

"Are you sure about that?" he asked.

"What do you mean?" Ash really looked confused.

The other rookie trainer sighed and asked "Have you caught a single pokemon yet?"

"Well... I liked this one Ratata a mile back, but Meowth told me it wasn't really brave. More like stupid..." he scratched the back of his head.

Mike just shook his head and rolled his eyes. With a sigh he walked past a Ash and said, over his shoulder "Well, I've gotten two of every critter here, thanks by the way, so I'll be going to Viridiam City now."

"See ya!" waved Ash but he wasn't really paying attention, he had just seen a rather large Pidgeotto in the distance.

* * *

As he set up camp, Ash was feeling a little frustrated. It was obvious that nothing here would measure up to Meowth, when he found the Scratch Cat pokemon it was but a baby. A baby he didn't want to just give to Professor Oak but knew he couldn't just take car of her, he had no idea how.

So he learned. With access to the good Professor's library he researched the species. What they ate, when they should be feed, how to care for their fur, claws and fangs. After she was happy and healthy he played with her and tried to get her to play with other pokemon.

The first worked, the second was a disaster. Meowth was a violent little freak and could only get along with other pokemon if it had given her at least one nice bruise. Keeping in mind that getting along meant not fighting it ALL the time.

Since she liked fighting so much, Ash helped her, he discovered what attacks she would learn and which ones he could teach her. And there was some many of them... Luckily Meowth didn't mind practice, at all really. But that also meant that they wouldn't be having any real challenges for a while. Meowth was simply not at the level of a starter, much less this critters.

He moved to start on the cat's food but Ash stopped when he heard a human voice mixed with yelps of rage and cries of pain. Moving over a small hill, the rookie trainer found the source of the sounds, it was battle.

He used to find excitement in pokemon battles before but after turning his Meowth into the pokemon king of Pallet Town, though they never fought against any real trainers that left their pokemon with Professor Oak, he truly saw the beauty of it. It was the ultimate competition. Brain, brawn, luck and skill. You needed everything and winning proves that you have it.

But this battle was only beautiful on one side. A wild Mankey, the biggest he had ever seen, standing at 1'5'' while most of the species stop at 1'1'', was beating the ever living crap out of two Ratatas. A young, blue capped trainer, was doing a surprisingly good job in controlling the two pokemon. But when he challenged that Mankey, he bit of more then the three of them could chew.

When the trainer made a mistake, the Pig Monkey pokemon really took advantage of it. Pushing the least injured Ratata against a rock, he really began laying on him with what Ash identified as Fury Swipes.

"Ra, no! Ta, go from behind him and tackle!"

Without hesitation the second rat leaped into the fray to try and rescue his friend, but the Mankey only grunted when he was hit. Turning back the wild pokemon smashed a Karate Chop into the Ratata and Ash decided that enough was enough. He was mistaken before, this wasn't a battle, it was a beating.

"Use Attract." he ordered while releasing Meowth.

The Scratch Cat winked at the Pig Monkey and created a floating pink heart that hit the wild pokemon on the back. When it turned with hearts in it's eyes Ash let out a sigh of relief, right gender.

"Now do Toxic." the trainer said, then turned to the only other human there "Get your pokemon to a Pokecenter, I think I heard something crack."

The boy nodded, returned both pokemon and ran, in his panic he didn't even remember to thank Ash. Not that the boy cared, now that his good deed was done he could focus on his future fighting type pokemon.

Turning back to the battle, the now poisoned Mankey still had hearts in his eyes. But just when Ash would capitalize on it, the wild pokemon broke free from the effect and charged at Meowth.

"Double Team!"

When another dozen Meowth appeared in the field Mankey was only confused for one second, choosing the stupid route it tried to attack them all. Or it would have been the stupid route if it didn't work.

By pushing himself at an impressive speed with only two of his members the pokemon was able to attack with the other two as soon as he reached a Meowth. And with a little luck he found the real one in the third try.

Crying her name, Meowth flew back with an angry red scratch on it's torso. Gritting his teeth Ash chose the brute route as well.

"Dig and catch your breath. Then knock him off his feet and hit him with a Return."

Before Ash was done speaking Meowth was already halfway underground. The trainer counted to three and did something pretty stupid, he threw a rock at the wild pokemon. With blazing, angry eyes, Mankey charged at Ash.

But before it could make it halfway, Meowth came out and smash her head into it's stomach. Then she spun around, her tail glowing pink and digging into the Pig Monkey's side. The Mankey's eyes were wide in pain and surprise with the power of the blow. It flew and just before it could smash against a rock another projectile hit it. This one sucked Mankey inside.

The pokeball was still for a second before the pokemon understood what was happening and tried to fight it. The ball shook twice before going still for a while, another shake and it stopped moving. Mankey was captured.

* * *

Ash chuckled while applying some ointment to Meowth's injury, the little lady was still hipper from the battle so he could barely get her to stay still. He wondered if her personality had anything to do with her coloring, the Professor did tell him he wasn't sure what it affected. The pink inside her ears, in her back pawns and tail, along with her darker fur supposedly made her stronger, faster and all that. But maybe it didn't just make her a better fighter, maybe it made her want to fight. He didn't really care.

Well, maybe a little. With Meowth's personality being so different and Mankey's being the normal one for his kind, Ash had to treat them separately since the two of them still wanted to fight. And that could wait until they were both better.

Meowth's injury wasn't a big deal, there was little blood and three small cuts. Nothing he couldn't fix, after all, he had been taking care of her for a while now.

Mankey on the other hand had a two cracked ribs, he couldn't help but feel happy about how much his cat loved him. Still, a berry to get rid of the poison, a potion injection, a muscle massage and some tape meant that Mankey would be fine in the morning. Ash just loved how fast pokemon healed.

The Pig Monkey pokemon had accepted Ash as it's master with little trouble. The fact that Meowth almost broke his ribs with one blow spoke to him about Ash's abilities to raise his pokemon. And like most fighting types, Mankey wanted power. He also felt that Ash could give it to him.

Placing a bandage on top of Meowth's wound, Ash nodded to himself and congratulated his good work.

"Good, you're going to be fine, kitty. Now let's eat and sleep."

Said kitty agreed and asked something using her name a few times.

"I've already feed him, but it was with your food so I'm going to need to stop at Viridiam and figure out how to raise him."

The pokemon rapidly agreed with her trainer, she would hate to eat Mankey food so the opposite was probably true. And their Mankey needed to be strong. Yes, their.

* * *

It was around noon of the flowing day when Ash arrived in the Viridiam City Pokecenter. There, he found an interesting sight. There were dozens of trainers around, most hugging their pokemon like the haven't seem them in years with a few petting them like they were just glad they were ok. Inside he realized that he had no hope of speaking with the nurse, there was a giant line of people taking their pokemon out.

Finding the boy he helped sited on a bench, Ash moved towards him.

"Hello."

The kid seemed startled that someone was talking to him, but then he recognized Ash and smiled.

"Hey! Thank you for helping me!" he said.

"No problem, but say. Can you tell me what happened here?"

The boy nodded quickly and started explaining. He told Ash that a group called Team Rocket tried to steal all the pokemon that were at the center, poor Nurse Joy really couldn't do anything against them but they weren't the brightest of fellows and tried to make their escape in an air balloon of all things.

Since the pokemon were safe inside their pokeballs the police simply waited until they were out of the city and used a Pidgeotto to burst the balloon and bring them down. A man and a woman were arrested and their pokemon apprehended. What really surprised Ash was that one of the pokemon was a talking Meowth. It was also on it's way to Professor Oak so he could be studied.

"Wow..." Ash admitted, then he remembered something "That's right, I need to let the Professor know I got here safely."

Thanking and saying his goodbyes to the kid, Ash moved towards a phone. Noticing that the line had gotten somewhat shorter. The phone rang for a while until the Professor picked it up.

"Hello? Ah, Ash! I take it you are in Viridiam City?" he asked, smiling.

"Yes, Professor. I heard you're getting a Meowth even weirder then mine."

"That's true, I can't wait to get my hands on him!" he rubbed his hands giddily, then stopped and turned back to Ash "But did you have any problems? You were the first trainer to leave and the last one to arrive..."

The rookie trainer smiled "I just took my time, and it was worth it."

"Ah! Do did you catch many pokemon?"

Ash shook his head "No, just one. And that's really why I'm calling you, I need you to name me a few books were I can learn about raising a Mankey."

"You have only caught a Mankey? I can't imagine that Meowth would have problems in battle..."

The raven haired boy just rubbed the back of his head and admitted "Actually he was the only pokemon I wanted to catch."

"Must be quite a Mankey then." said the older man.

"He is, so I want to get started on him as fast as I can. So the books, Professor?"

"Oh, right." Oak took a moment to think and said "_Life in Route 1 _by Prof. Hauston, _The Body of a Fighter _by Ms. Greta and that's it. Necessary diet and nutrient effects will be in the first book while moves and necessary body characteristics for a fighting type will be in the second."

Ash clapped his hands and bowed his head "Thank you very much, Professor! I'll get right on that!"

And he did, before Oak could say more then "Remember to call-" he was already gone. The line was still too big to talk to Nurse Joy, so Ash decided that he would just ask for directions from someone on the street.

He would have some problems, since the people of Viridiam city weren't very trusting of strangers right now. But Ash would get to the library sooner or later.

"(Sight) Again, Ash?"

Ash looked over the book he had just opened to see that Nurse Joy had three pokeballs on a tray and there was a boy wearing a straw hat and carrying a bug catching net in front of her. Ash allowed himself a small smile and rubbed his chin.

"I think half the reason they challenge me is because you tell them not to." he shrugged "Probably trying to impress you."

The kid turned beat red and Nurse Joy huffed, before turning back to her job and taking the pokemon away.

His distraction gone, Ash went back to his book. He just took a few more notes and made sure he had bought everything necessary to make Mankey's food and resupplied for making Meowth's. Read a little on how the Seismic Toss was supposed to go and smiled since it looked like Mankey had already gotten it. Now he just needed to increase it's body weight to make it stronger.

That's when he realized that that an hour had passed and hurried away. Giving his goodbyes to Nurse Joy, Ash took of towards the Viridiam Forest, he need to get to Pewter City and he had wasted a whole week here just studding on Mankey and training his pokemon. While necessary, it wasn't that exciting.

"I Samurai-Challenge you!" said a... Well, Samurai. He was coming out of the forest just as Ash was entering it.

"That's a first." admitted Ash.

"What?" it seemed the challenger was just a confused as Ash.

"First time I've been Samurai-Challenged. How is it different then a regular challenge?"

"Oh..." He rubbed the back of his head a few times before admitting "It's not..."

"Ok, then. My name's Ash Ketchum and I come from Pallet Town. Can we do this two on two?" the raven haired boy asked, enlarging Mankey's pokeball.

"I am just Samurai and I accept those terms! Go, Pincer!"

"Bug, huh?" Ash nodded and released his pokemon "This is your fight, Mankey."

Both trainers and pokemon tensed and Ash started the match.

"Leer, then Focus Energy."

Mankey's Leer froze both Pincer and the Samurai for a second, before the trainer gulped and shouted.

"Pincer, don't let him finish! Use bind!"

But by the time the order was through and his pokemon began to move, Ash's had already clenched his muscles and started breathing loudly. Just as Pincer reached the Pig Monkey the Focus Energy was complete.

The Bug pokemon grabbed the Fighting one with it's pincers and gripped him hard. Luckily, Bind isn't a particularly powerful move at first, they had time so Ash smiled and gave another order.

"Screech now."

The earsplitting sound reduced Pincers defense even more and just as it tried again to crush Mankey, Ash spoke.

"Fury Swipes."

Mankey descended on the Bug pokemon in righteous fury and clawed him once, twice, thrice and maybe he would have attacked again but Pincer let go of him and fell. The pain was too much for him to get up and the Samurai was forced to call him back in.

Ash took notice of the bruises forming on each side of his pokemon but decided that there was no need to call him back just yet.

"Ok then, I choose Metapod!"

"But a Metapod can't move... Right?" asked Ash.

The Samurai just gritted it's teeth and told it to use Harden. Ash grimaced when he realized that this might take a while.

"Fury Swipes."

It took Ash two days to get out of the Viridiam forest, and he wouldn't have taken another second. Simply put Ash hated that place. He wasn't overly found of Bug Pokemon and aside from the rare Pidgeotto that was all there was in there. There was also the fact that he fought four trainers who tried using Metapod. So it was now, officially, his least favorite pokemon.

"Nurse Joy..? But I just saw you in Viridiam City..."

Said Nurse just smiled at Ash and explained that there were dozens of Nurse Joys out there. Also Officer Jennys, even though he had yet to meet any of those. Truth be told those facts scared him a little.

"So she was your sister?" he tried to confirm.

"Yes! And she told all about you Ash." Joy said, with a big smile "She told me that you take very good care and work really hard to raise your pokemon." then her eyes narrowed a bit "But she also said that you are not so careful when it comes to others."

Before Ash could give some sort of excuse, her mood shifted again.

"So, are you going to participate in the Regional Championships?" she asked with another pleasant smile.

Ash raised an eyebrow but just went with the flow "Yes, I am. I'm here to challenge this city's gym."

Before the nurse could answer their conversation was interrupted by a loud laugh, turning towards the door, they saw an older bearded man standing on the door.

"You think YOU can beat Brock? The Pewter City Gym leader?"

"Yes, I think I can do it."

The calm confidence in his voice and the slight smile on his face was enough to raise Flint's eyebrows. Not that they could see it, since he hid half of his face with a red beanie.

"Well, Nurse Joy." the older man said "Make sure your ready for when the kid comes crying back."

He laughed again and headed for the exit, but he stopped when he heard Ash talking to Nurse Joy.

"I wonder if he realizes how stupid he sounds."

Flint stopped and turn "What was that, brat?"

"Uh? Oh, well... You have never seen my pokemon fight, you don't know which and what kind of pokemon I have and for all you know this could be my first or last badge." Ash explained, before he turned to the nurse "Can you tell me where I find the Gym?"

Ash didn't stop walking. He didn't take any deep breaths as he pushed the doors open and he didn't slow down as he walked into the pitch black gym. It's not that he wasn't nervous, it was just that he didn't want to calm down, this fear mixed with excitement and doubt was necessary in his opinion.

This were the emotions Ash liked when going into battle, as long as he controlled them, they gave him focus. Allowed him to make split second decisions.

The young trainer couldn't see anything inside, so he thought best to stop and wait. And he did. After a few moments a spot light flared and showed a very tanned teen, standing in the back of the room.

"I am Ash Ketchum. I came from Pallet Town and I want to challenge this Gym." he explained.

"Is this your first Gym battle?" the teen, Brock, asked and after Ash's nod continued "A Gym match is different from other battles. This match is for Pokemon League Authorization, so there are a few special rules."

Ash didn't say anything, but gave him his undivided attention.

"We will use two Pokemon each, understood?" said Brock.

"Can I switch between my fighters?"

"Yes." the Gym leader answered calmly.

"Then let's go." smiled Ash.

"Yes, I choose Geodude." shouted Brock, throwing a pokeball forward.

Enlarging a pokeball, Ash released Mankey. A tense moment later and Brock started the match.

"Geodude, use Roll Out!"

"Leer, then keep your eyes on him." said Ash.

But Brock wasn't a gym leader for nothing, he knew what the challenger was planning. Decrease the defense and let the Rock pokemon get close for a fighting type move, well he would have to do better then that.

Just as the rolling pokemon was about to hit Mankey, Ash spoke "Use-"

But Brock cut him of "Geodude, use Dig!"

"-Screech."

The Gym leaders eyes widened, there was no counter coming?

"Again and again." ordered the rookie trainer.

With every Screech Geodude's defense feel, even if underground. So Brock realized that Mankey was a sacrifice, he was to lower Geodude's defenses so another pokemon could pack a punch.

So Brock shouted "Geodude, stop it! Hit it now!"

With a roar, the Rock pokemon burst from the ground and slammed himself against Mankey. The Pig Monkey yelped but refused to be toppled.

"Karate Chop."

With an ear splitting screech, the fighting pokemon delivered an unbelievable blow on top of his opponent. There was no grunt or cry, Geodude was just smashed between Mankey's hand and the floor , losing consciousness.

"Well done, Champ." smiled Ash, petting his pokemon "Now back inside, your turn is over."

By then, Brock was done gasping at the fact that his Geodude went down with a single blow "I guess I'm going to have to bring out the big guns." he said "Onix! I choose you!"

When the massive rock snake appeared on the field Ash was really intimidated. But that's ok, because the one that needed to be strong would. He released Meowth and took it upon himself to start the match.

"Fake out, Rain Dance."

In a blur of speed Meowth was in front of the Rock pokemon and she slammed her palm against it's head. Onix barely felt the blow, but he did flinch. With time to spare, Meowth did a little twirl and water started to fall from the Gym's roof.

While wondering how such a think was possible, Brock ordered his Onix to use Rock Throw. The massive pokemon grunted because of the rain, but began hurling stones at Meowth.

"Protect, now!" commanded the challenger.

Standing on two legs and crying her name, Meowth created a pale blue shield that kept the rocks away.

But the Gym leader shouted "Onix, use Bind!"

Before Ash could give another order, or so Brock thought, the Rock Snake pokemon had wrapped itself around Meowth, it's head a just a feet above her.

"And now what? Your pokemon is trapped." asked the Gym leader.

"I thought you knew better then that." commented Ash "Water Pulse, hit it right between the eyes!" he ordered.

"Onix, get away!" shouted Brock, but if there was one thing the Rock pokemon did not have, it was speed.

Before it could get away Meowth had gathered moisture in one of her pawns and pointed it straight at Onix. With a cry she shot the attack at almost point blank range and the massive rock pokemon flung himself back, roaring in pain.

"Do Taunt!" said Ash and Meowth proceeded to point and laugh at the trashing rock pokemon.

Said pokemon heard her laugh and it's anger was enough to break through the pain. The Rock Snake launched himself into Meowth without any prompting from it's trainer.

"Endure." the challenger said, after taking a deep breath.

His pokemon agreed and stiffened it's muscles for the incoming blow. The rock pokemon did hit her, and pushed her all the way from the middle of the battlefield to one of the walls. While it tried to crush the smaller pokemon, they both heard Ash's voice.

"Iron Tail, same spot."

Crying her name and twisting herself, Meowth's smashed a glowing white tail into Onix's forehead at the exact same spot as the Water Pulse. Something cracked and the Rock pokemon went down without another sound.

When Onix flashed in red light and disappeared, Ash turned to Brock with concern "Is it going to be ok?"

"Yes, it's not rare for Rock pokemon to break a little. As long as it's not to deep he could heal without any help, but this wound is definitely going to need a Pokecenter." then the Gym leaded smiled "You've surprised me Ash, I never thought I would see the day were a Meowth would defeat my Onix."

Ash smiled and turned to see his pokemon picking herself up, that last one was a nasty blow "Yeah, but that's just because my Meowth always wins."

Since Ash has just defeated him, Brock choose to think of that as a joke instead of having to lecture the rookie on overconfidence "Well, as proof that you have defeated me I present you this Boulder Badge. Congratulations."

"Thank you, Brock. But know I'm going to take Meowth back to the Pokecenter."

"I'll walk with you, Onix is also in a bad shape."


	2. Chapter 2

A Boy and his Cat

AN: Longer then the last chapter, still not that big and I doubt they'll ever be huge. Hope that's ok with you guys. Didn't get many reviews for the first chapter but they're all positive, so I'm not really complaining.

And sorry, Mr. Negima Uzumaki and Mr. dark mann. No starters, unless a lot of people ask for them (and I mean a LOT) and just one cat, singular.

Nevertheless, disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon, both the franchise or any of the little buggers. The very few OCs can be used without permission but please send people my way if you do use them.

Chapter 2: Truly, a Team of Brutes

"So this is Mt. Moon, huh?" Ash asked himself "And those are Clefairy." he mussed.

Looking inside the cave Ash made a mental note of the pokemon he could see. The Zubat were either sleeping on the ceiling or hiding from him, the Geodude were pretending to be boulders, Sandshrew were hiding as well and Paras were just planting their mushrooms.

Truth be told he wasn't very impressed and he also didn't really want to fight in here. It was clear this pokemon never saw battle and wouldn't amount to much. Hell, one of the Clefairy was so fearless when it came to strangers that she came to offer him a berry.

He ate the fruit and gave the Clefairy one of his own, it was so happy that now there were three of them dancing around him. Ash had to admit they were cute, a little too cute for him to want to use in battle so he just marched forward. The sooner he got out of here the sooner he could go back to really training his pokemon.

Meowth still didn't want to evolve, but he had a feeling Mankey would be a Primeape soon enough.

While the young trainer walked, the Clefairy came to realize that if they gave him things, Ash would smile and give them berries. One of them even found an old pokeball somewhere and so the trainer was quickly running out of the little fruits. Ok, not really, he still had a lot but they seemed intent on ridding him of them.

When one of the Clefairy found an Everstone for him, it really made a ruckus. Prompting the others to scold it for some reason. He considered asking but he had no idea how to understand a Clefairy so he just kept moving.

When Ash tried to enter the next part of the caves, all three of the Fairy pokemon tried to push him away from it. He stopped and raised an eyebrow, so the little creatures tried to explain something but Ash could only shake his head.

Then one of them shouted it's name, was shushed by the others and explained it's plan. It climbed on the other two to look bigger and growled it's name menacingly after pointing at the path Ash wanted to follow.

"There's something dangerous in there?" the trainer asked.

When all three nodded, Ash just smiled and walked towards the danger. All the Clefairy started running around him in a panic while shouting their names. That ruckus seemed to wake the danger because the three little creatures froze and stared intently at where Ash was headed.

When the trainer saw the pokemon that had scared them so, his eyes widened before a smile appeared on his face. The Geodude in front of him was twice as big as Brock's, it actually looked to be halfway to Graveler.

Grabbing the lone pokeball on his right side, Ash said "Meowth, use Taunt." while releasing his pokemon.

The Scratch Cat took on look at the opponent, smiled and did so. With that weird meow-laughter of her, Meowth angered the Geodude enough that it charged without thinking.

"Double Team and Water Pulse, go." the trainer ordered.

His pokemon agreed and a dozen copies of it appeared in the battlefield, confusing Geodude when he went through one. While the pokemon tried to figure out why it had smashed into a wall instead of a pokemon, it was hit by the Water Pulse and roared in pain.

"That looked a lot more effective then it was on Onix..." Ash mussed but put it out of his mind, the Geodude was standing and the wall he had hit instead of Meowth was not.

The wild pokemon started smashing itself against the ground until everything began to shake. Meowth lost his footing just as a large rock broke free from the ground, the Cat Scratch pokemon fell and hit his face in the boulder. She groaned in pain while rolling on the floor.

"That was Magnitude? Wow... Ah, Meowth use protect!" shouted Ash, his cool long gone.

Meowth was able to put up the blue barrier just on time for Geodude's Roll Out to hit it. The Rock pokemon went flying while spinning, before it started to fall.

"Iron Tail it into the wall!" ordered the boy.

His pokemon got up and took her time to make her tail glow white. Then, crying her name, Meowth smashed it against the out of control Geodude and flung it against the wall behind Ash. The Rock pokemon was out like a light and wasn't able to put up much of a fight against the trainer's pokeball.

"Well, I like that one, kitty. What about you?" Ash asked with a smile.

Just them the Clefairy started dancing and cheering around Ash again, oddly enough, this time Meowth did the same.

"Every single one of your pokemon is incapacitated?"

Ash was simply flabbergasted, Cerulean City had THREE gym leaders and they had been defeat by every other trainer that left Pallet Town the same day as him. Now he couldn't fight because the leaders sucked too much. He had the feeling that his two days with Geodude would have been enough to get beat them.

"All except this one." said the one that had identified herself as Lily, while she released a Goldeen.

"Unless it evolves into a Seaking we can't use it to battle-" started Violet, but Ash interrupted her.

"Why not? He must know at least one attack..." he tried.

"No, he's too young. But it's ok because know instead of battling we have time to make ourselves look beautiful!" said Lily.

While Ash did agree that they were all lovely, he had come for a badge. So just as he was about to protest again Violet spoke "Uh, like, why don't we have him fight Misty? It's better then giving him the badge."

"Oh yeah! Our little runt sister came back the other, I'm going to go get her!" the last sister, Daisy, smiled and took off.

"That's fine with me, I guess." said Ash, while rubbing the back of his head.

"So, this will be a two on two battle for the Cascade." said Violet while she stood on the side of the field "Are both of you ready?" she asked and when answered with nods shouted "Then: Begin!"

Mist twirled and shouted "Staryu, I choose you!" she threw a pokeball forward and her pokemon appeared.

"Then I'll go with Meowth." said Ash, releasing his kitty "Fake Out, now!"

Before Misty could say anything the Cat Scratch pokemon had slapped her Water type into the water.

"Staryu, no!" the Gym leader clenched her fist and ordered "Stay underwater and use Swift!" and from the poll were shot dozens of little yellow stars, all directed at Meowth.

"Aim at where they are coming from, Thunderbolt."

All the stars that impacted with Meowth's Thunderbolt were destroyed but most of them still hit, though Ash's pokemon just ignored them. Staryu, on the other hand, was not able to ignore the electric attack and as soon as Meowth was done with it, Misty's pokemon appeared floating and unconscious.

While the Gym leader returned her pokemon, Meowth turned to Ash and started crying her name.

"Doesn't matter, you wanted to go first so your turn is over, kitty." the trainer said, while returning his grumbling pokemon.

"Why does a Meowth knows Thunderbolt?!" Misty demanded.

Ash just raised an eyebrow, but then smiled "Does it really matter?" he asked.

"Uh! Fine! I choose Starmie!" she shouted.

The challenger nodded and released his next pokemon "Mankey." he announced.

While both pokemon had a stare-off, Ash took upon him to begin the match "I want Fury Swipes." he barked.

His fighting type agreed eagerly and charged the water pokemon. Jumping from platform to platform, Mankey moved.

"Starmie, use Rapid Spin!" shouted the Gym leader. The Water pokemon obeyed and shot off towards the Fighting type.

"Change to Karate Chop, smack it into the poll!" screeching his agreement Mankey met the Mysterious Pokemon and struck. But he did it too soon, so Mankey wasn't able to hit his opponent's crystal.

Starmie did fall inside the poll, but it was able to hit Mankey before doing so. Though the Pig Monkey was able to fall in one of the platforms and the battle continued.

"Focus Energy and Screech!" ordered Ash.

"Hit him with a Water Gun!" shouted the Gym leader.

Starmie's attack hit dead on, but Mankey refused to budge. When it was completing Ash's second order, his trainer gave the next one "Swagger.".

Just as someone was going to ask what exactly Mankey was doing, Starmie shot off from the poll and started spinning in the air.

"Starmie? What are you doing?!" the Gym leader asked.

"She's confused." explained Ash, smiling while his pokemon crossed it's arms and watch Starmie hit a wall. Then it recovered control of itself and stopped in one of the platforms.

"Starmie, use Water Gun again!"

Ash smiled pleasantly and ordered "Run straight through it, Champ! I want Assurance!"

At first the Water Gun had no hope of stopping Mankey, but the closer he got to Starmie the stronger it became. Until he was forced to stop, though the Pig Monkey was able to keep himself from being pushed back.

"Ha! As if he could do something like that!" mocked Misty.

"Mankey can do anything he wants." assured Ash, and just as he said that his pokemon released an eardrum shattering screech. Then started to glow white and grow bigger.

When he was done evolving, Primeape smashed Starmie with the Assurance. The pokemon's jewel cracked and it was knocked out even before hitting the wall. But it did hit said wall hard.

Ash took a deep breath whooped "That was fantastic, Primeape!"

Primeape's excitement at his victory added to his excitement about evolving and his trainers own happiness had the Pig Monkey pokemon screeching his victory to the heavens, before Ash returned him.

"Look Ash, I know you prefer bonding with a small number of pokemon and focusing on them. But as a trainer, if you don't have a certain variety, you become predictable." explained Professor Oak, through the video phone "I'm not telling you to go an capture forty pokemon like Gary but you have three, Ash..."

"I have three undefeated pokemon, Professor. Please stop trying to give me this advice, I understand what you are saying." sighed Ash " But I this is the kind of Pokemon Master that I want to be."

The young trainer was beginning to regret calling the Professor to ask about information on Geodude. Maybe next time he caught something he would do all the research by himself, it was better then listening to this over and over.

"But Ash-" the older man began.

Raising a palm, the young trainer stopped whatever the professor would say "Let me prove to you that it's working." he said "Mike, Louis or Gary. Who's closest to me now?"

Raising an eyebrow, Oak answered "It's Michael. He's also in Cerulean City."

Nodding, Ash spoke again "Then contact him and have him meet me with a full six pokemon team. My three will be enough to beat them."

Professor Oak took a moment to think of what the young trainer was saying. Ash had just declared that every pokemon of his could take two of another trainers who's skill level he wasn't sure about. Nodding, the professor choose to let it happen, it was best Ash learned now not to be arrogant.

"Very well, I'll have him fight you tomorrow after lunch, in the field behind the Cerulean City Pokecenter."

"So, Ash, can you tell me why Professor Oak wanted me to fight you?" asked Mike.

The boy was the same age as Ash and had started his journey on the same day. Unlike Ash, he didn't have a pokemon yet so he was given a starter, Ash just didn't know which one. Michael wore a long-sleeved blue shirt with a white vest over it, brown cargo pants and brown shoes. He had short blond hair and blue eyes.

"He wants to teach me that quantity is better then quality." explained the other trainer.

Raising an eyebrow, Mike inquired "That's not it is it? You two just disagree with something so you're taking his words out of context." he sighed and continued "Whatever, how are we going to do this? Six on six?"

Ash nodded and continued "No substitutions during the match, fell free to change in between."

With a smirk the other boy nodded and shout "Alright! Then I choose Raticate!"

"And I'll go with Primeape." said Ash, releasing his pokemon.

The large Mouse pokemon stared intently at the Pig Monkey and the battle began.

"Bulk Up." ordered Ash and his pokemon clenched his muscles as hard as he could, but his opponent wouldn't wait.

"Raticate!" he called "Use Quick Attack!"

The ground type moved at a surprising speed for it's size and charged Primeape, leaving a white trail behind him.

"Grab it after the hit."

Since Ash's Primeape stood at 4 feet instead of the usual three, it was easily twice as big as the Raticate. When the attack hit, the Pig Monkey didn't even grunt, despite the bruise forming at it's stomach. Grabbing hold of the Mouse that had bounced back, he waited for orders.

Orders that came as soon as the opponent was captured "I want Seismic Toss."

Screeching at the top of his lungs, Primeape obeyed and, after tightening his hold on the enemy, jumped as high as he could. Even his trainer was surprised at how far he went, and when Primeape fell, it was smashing Raticate against the ground.

The super effective attack proved to be too much for the Mouse pokemon and it fell down, swirls on his eyes.

"Fuck, Ash! That thing's a monster." accused the other trainer, while pointing at Primeape. Oddly enough both the pokemon and it's trainer took that as a praise "Well, he's still going down! Ivysaur, I choose you!"

The Seed pokemon showed itself and growled it's name at Primeape, who choose to stare at him with as much anger as it could. While Ash briefly wondered if his pokemon was trying to develop the ability "Intimidate", Mike began the match.

"Ivy, use Vine Whip!" he ordered.

"Charge straight ahead, Champ!" called Ash, smiling in delight.

Ivysaur's Vine Whip hit Primeape thrice before he could get to the Grass type, but the larger pokemon just shook them off. Just as he got to his opponent Primeape heard his master's next orders "Assurance, now!"

Remembering every strike of the Vine Whip, the Pig Monkey smashed his pink glowing fist into Ivysaur and watched the pokemon go flying.

"Ivysaur, no!"

But Ash wouldn't let up "Use Focus Punch!"

His pokemon took his time, charging up the Focus Punch. And just as Ivysaur began to get up, Primeape charged.

"Ivysaur, dodge!" ordered Mike, but the poor pokemon could only sway a little to the side, which was in no way outside of the path of the coming blow.

With he's typical angry screech, Primeape sent an uppercut into Ivysaur's jaw and sent the pokemon flying. When the swirls appeared in the Grass type's eyes, his trainer grit his teeth and called him back.

"Good job, Primeape. You've earned a nice long rest." smiled Ash, despite the fact that his pokemon clearly didn't want a nice long rest. Even if he had four, ugly throbbing bruises.

Mike took a deep breath and picked another pokeball "Ok, then I'll choose Geodude!"

Seeing the Rock pokemon Ash couldn't help but smile again. It was this kind of thing he was talking about "Then so do I." while releasing his pokemon, the young trainer rejoiced in the shock present in his opponents face, when the boy saw that Ash's Geodude was twice as big as his.

"That thing is the size of a Graveler!" he complained, before shaking his head "But we haven't lost yet! Geodude, use Roll Out!"

"You too." ordered Ash, wondering what his opponent was up to.

And he found out, just as the Rock pokemon were about to collide, Mike shouted "Geodude, use Selfdestruct!"

Before Ash could figure out what to do, there was a huge explosion in the middle of the battlefield. It took a while for the smoke to clear but when it did, it showed that the biggest Geodude was floating. Burned, panting, but floating while the other one was completely knocked out.

"What the hell?!" Mike wondered out loud, but after a moment, he understood "It has Sturdy right?"

Ash nodded, while watching his pokemon and trying to figure out what to do. Geodude would go down in one blow, there was no question about that. Maybe he could try the same thing, but he just didn't want to.

When his pokemon cried her name, yes her, Ash meet her eyes and understood. Geodude was a classy lady, she wasn't going down for just anyone.

"Zubat, I choose you!" shouted Mike, reminding Ash that he was present.

Ash didn't know what to think, sure it would be hard to hit but when Geodude smashed against it. The poor bat would go out like a light... He was probably counting on Geodude falling before that.

"Zubat, use Supersonic!" the trainer ordered.

"Dig, now!" Ash countered and Geodude disappeared inside the ground. While the sound waves hit the ground and dispersed themselves, Ash continued "Use Rock Throw with the floor beneath him!"

Before the Poison/Flying Pokemon could react, Geodude burst from the floor, caring a small fist-sized rock on her hand. Crying her name, the Rock pokemon launched the stone as hard as she could and watched as it smashed against Zubat's stomach.

Like Ash predicted, the battle was over with just that and Mike was forced to recall his fourth pokemon.

Visibly panicking, Mike choose another pokeball "Dammit, go Bellsprout!"

By the time the Grass type showed itself, Geodude couldn't even float anymore. Ash sighed and petted his pokemon before saying "You were amazing, Geodude. I don't think anyone could have won that match but you."

Returning Geodude to her pokeball, Ash unleashed Meowth and attacked immediately.

"Fake Out! Then, Aerial Ace!" he ordered.

"Bellsprout dodge!" tried Michael but it was no use.

Meowth hit the Grass type cleanly and while it flinched, the Scratch Cat pokemon did something unbelievable. She jumped as high as she could, easily ten feet, and swopped down while glowing white.

Catching Bellsprout right in the face, Meowth sent the Flower Pokemon flying so far it hit the wall of the Pokecenter. But it was getting up.

"Yeah, you can do it, Bells-" started Mike.

"Meowth, Pay Day!" barked Ash.

Swiping her pawn over the coin in her head, Meowth made four more of them appear and hurled them at the weakened Grass type. Just as Bellsprout lifted it's head, it saw the coins and cringed. Before going unconscious from the hit.

Mike swallowed a lump on his throat and looked at his opponent. It was then and there that he decided that facing Ash was really scary. The boy's eyes were hard and calculating, but he had a smile on his face which went completely against how brutal his pokemon were.

"Ok..." he started, before strengthening his voice "Clefairy, I choose you!"

A quick stare off and Ash began the match "Charge straight ahead using Pay Day."

And Meowth did, she ran incredibly fast and started hurling golden coins at Clefairy. At it's trainers orders, the Fairy pokemon dodge most of the coins, but was hit by a few. And just like that, Meowth was upon it.

"Clefairy, use Double Slap!" tried Mike.

"Take it, then use Bite!" ordered the raven haired trainer.

After the second slap, Meowth took a nice big bite out of Clefairy's outstretched hand. It cried in pain from the super effective attack until it's trainer spoke again.

"Use Sing, now!" ordered the blond, and when Clefairy did, he let out a breath of relief as Meowth fell asleep "Now-"

"Sleep Talk, now." came Ash's voice and an Iron Tail to the head proved to be too much for the Fairy pokemon.

Returning his pokemon, Michael told it what a good job it did, like he had done for all the others. While Ash just petted Meowth and smiled at her.

It was three days after Ash's battle with Michael that the raven haired trainer left Cerulean City. So far the only interesting thing to happen was that he found some kind of unofficial gym, with a sign claiming the leader had one hundred victories and no defeats.

Ash would have loved fighting someone like that, unfortunately the place was empty so he just kept going. Also unfortunately the trainer still hadn't found any interesting pokemon on the way to Vermilion City, but he had a while before Professor Oak started bugging him to catch more pokemon again.

The only real problem Ash had right now, was that he was bored. Battle-crazy pokemon aren't the most fun to talk to and he hadn't met any trainers in a while. Still, soon enough came something that promised not to be boring, human voices coupled with pokemon cries and something hitting something.

The young trainer immediately took off towards the battle scene, unfortunately by the time he got there, the fight was over. He found was a very injured Pidgeotto, a Magneton, a teacher and his students.

"Now, can anyone tell me why I had such an easy time?" asked the man.

One of his students, a, somewhat, plain looking boy with glasses raised his hand and answered "Not only is your Magneton at a higher level then the opponent, sir, you also had the type advantage."

"Good answer." said the man, he clapped his hands before continuing "Now-" but stopped when one of the students raised his hands.

With the teachers permission, the boy spoke "Uh, sir, there's someone watching us."

All heads turned to where the kid indicated, to find Ash starring with a frown on his face, only he was starring at the Pidgeotto.

The teacher cleared his throat to grab Ash's attention, before asking "Can I help you, young man?"

"Sure, are you planning on capturing that pokemon?" Ash asked, a confused look in his face.

Raising an eyebrow, the teacher spoke "Yes, I am. Why?"

Ash walked over and knelled before the pokemon "Because of how badly you injured it." he brushed it's feathers and said "I don't think it's going to fly for a whole week... Also the fact that it's in an incredible amount of pain right now and capturing would allow it to rest a little."

The boy starred at man with something that could only be described as expectant indifference. It looked like he was just waiting for something to irrelevant to happen and that he was waiting just because. Ash starred until the teacher cleared his throat.

"Very well, Mr. Verhan." he said, removing a pokeball from his pocket "I think you could use the practice."

A shy looking boy disentangled himself from the crowd and grabbed the pokeball his teacher was offering. That's when Ash choose to back away, wondering who needs practice to capture a pokemon on death's door.

In a few second, the young trainer received his answer in the form of a pokeball hitting his shin. Glaring a little at the other boy, who was apologizing, Ash kicked the ball back and kept his eyes on it this time.

On the second try, the student did capture the pokemon and Ash prepared to leave until the teacher spoke "I take it you are not aware, young man, that you are trespassing on the Pokemon Technical Institute's grounds?"

"Really?" asked a very confused Ash "But there are no signs or fences..."

The teacher wasn't deterred by that at all "Still, I must inquire what you are doing here."

The young trainer just shrugged and explained "I'm traveling." when no one said anything he added "To Vermillion City."

The older man smiled, taking a glance at the pokeball on Ash's belt "Are you planning on challenging the Gym there?" he asked.

After Ash's nod, he continued "Then, since you interrupted my lesson, would you mind helping out a bit? I think some of my students would benefit from battling someone they have no prior knowledge of." he explained.

Ash's blinked a few times then smiled pleasantly "Of course, I would love that."

Matching Ash's smile the teacher asked "And how many badges do you have so far, Mr?"

"Two and Ketchum, Ash Ketchum." the boy replied.

The sound of snickering made the young trainer look at the students and raise an eyebrow, looking at the teacher Ash noticed that the man didn't seem pleased with the laughing either.

"And who would like to challenge Mr. Ketchum?" he asked the class, a lot of people answered 'yes' but the rest just looked like they found something about that amusing.

"Let me do it, Professor!" said the boy from before, taking position in front of Ash "It will be easy!"

"And why do you think that?" asked a very puzzled trainer.

"Because although I'm the weakest student in my class, I can easily take a trainer with only two badges." he explained, much to his teacher dismay.

If anything, Ash looked amused right now "I honestly can't tell if you're bragging or putting yourself down." lazily throwing a pokeball forward, he released Geodude and said "Still, that's not what we are here for."

"Geodude, huh?" the boy smiled "I know the perfect counter!"

When he choose a Weepinbell, the teacher took position as referee "This will be a one on one battle between trainer Ash Ketchum from Pallet town and Joe Verhan representing Poketech." he announced "Are both of you ready? Then begin!"

"Weepinbell, use Vine Whip!" shouted Joe, while Ash smiled pleasantly.

"Harden and grab it, after it hits you" ordered Ash.

Shouting her name in agreement, Geodude's body shinned for a moment before gaining a clearer tone. She was done just as the Vine Whip smashed against her arm, using that same arm the Rock pokemon grabbed it.

While the other trainer panicked and the other pokemon tried to pull free, Ash ordered "Pull it and Focus Punch!"

With a single tug Geodude overpowered the Grass pokemon and it flew towards her. The airborne pokemon reached the Rock one just as the attack was done charging, the correct timing showing that this was a practiced strategy by Ash and Geodude.

Crying her name, Geodude pummeled her opponent and sent it flying.

"Weepinbell!" cried the boy as his pokemon rolled to his feet, completely unconscious "But how? Grass beats Rock." he said.

It was the teacher who answered, but with a question "What were the two advantages that I had in my battle against the Pidgeotto, Mr. Verhan?"

"Uh..." the boy began "Type advantage and level advantage." he answered.

"Correct." nodded the man "And who had each advantage on this match?"

Nodding and returning his pokemon the boy answered, completely downcast "I had type but he had level."

"Correct, you may go now." as Joe returned to the crowd there was plenty of snickering at him and one kid went out of his way to bump him "Does anyone else wish to challenge Mr. Ketchum?"

The most beautiful girl Ash had ever seen made her way to them, while the young trainer tried to fight off a blush. He was a little too preoccupied, so Ash didn't even notice how everyone made way for her without being asked.

Running a hand through her hair and letting it flow with the wind, she spoke "I really don't want you to leave here with a wrong impression of Poketech's strength. Also, beating you will surely help Joe recover from that embarrassing defeat." she explained, while Ash wondered what was embarrassing about it "So, I, the beautiful, talented and modest Giselle, will beat you now, Ash Ketchum!"

Releasing a Graveler, probably for intimidation purposes, she smiled and everyone waited.

"Uh, aren't you going to change your pokemon?" she asked, after the silence became to much.

"And deny her this match? No way." he actually laughed at the absurdity of her statement, and Geodude agree by bumping her fists and growling her name.

"Fine then! Graveler, get it!"

'Train him to use the move when you say something else, clever!' thought Ash "Harden again, then another one."

Shouting her name, Geodude did just as ordered and finished with plenty of time to brace herself for impact. And there was impact, Graveler fell down right on top of the other Rock pokemon with a Stomp that raised a massive cloud of dust.

Everyone was waiting for it to clear up to see what had happened, except for Ash "Seismic Toss!"

And much to everyone's surprise, Geodude jumped fifteen feet in the air with Graveler firmly in her hold. Crying her name, the Rock pokemon placed her evolved form underneath her and came down just as hard as Graveler had before.

An even bigger cloud of dust rose and shielded the results from view, not that everyone cared about that.

Disregarding visibility again, Ash ordered "Brick Break, now."

He was answered with a shout of Geodude's name, the sound of rock hitting rock and a pitiful moan of Graveler's name. When the dust went down, Geodude was rolling away from her defeated target. And crying her name, she began to glow white. Ash's opponent just few to her knees in shock at her, rather easy deafeat.

There was plenty of whispering around Giselle's lost, she must have been good but Ash knew that from the fact that her pokemon survived Geodude's Seismic Toss. But the boy wasn't really paying any mind to anything but his pokemon.

He smiled at his former Geodude and said, kindly "Well done, Graveler. Very well done!"

While Ash returned his newly evolved pokemon, every student was starring at him with wonder. And the teacher approached him.

"Mr. Ketchum? Would you mind explaining my class your strategy in this match?" he asked politely.

"Uh, sure." shrugged Ash "I used Harden to make sure Geodude wouldn't get hurt to bad, so it wouldn't hinder any of her attacks-"

"What?!" shouted the girl he had just beaten "Too bad? It would have knocked it clean out!"

The young trainer just rose and eyebrow at this and answered "No, she can take something like that."

Just as she was about to argue, the teacher spoke "Ms. Seiyo, I think Mr. Ketchum knows his pokemon better then you." he scolded then turned to Ash and smiled "Please continue."

"Well, I figured she didn't have much real battle experience, so she would wait for the dust to clear and she did." he explained.

"What do you mean 'real battle experience'?" demanded a random student.

"Yeah! We fight all the time!" shouted another.

Raising his hands in a surrender gesture, Ash said "It's just... Well, you guys have to see the people you beat everyday, so you probably have a few rules the students follow. No cheap tricks, both sides wait until one clash is done before giving another order and all that."

That seemed to placate them, and Giselle spoke again "And you don't do that." she concluded "You just keep ordering and ordering."

"Outside of our academy, even in league matches is not uncommon for trainers to interrupt their opponent or use Ash's so called cheap tricks." the professor then turned to the young trainer again "Please, Mr. Ketchum."

"Of course, I made sure to use something that would do some real damage because I couldn't afford many hits from such a strong Graveler-"

"Yeah, right! It lost to a Geodude!" snorted a girl on the back, she really seemed delighted that Giselle had lost.

Ash just smiled and asked "You haven't seen many Geodude before have you?"

When she shook her head, Ash smiled brightly "Well, mine was a monster amongst them." he chuckled a little "If you didn't notice, now she has the size of a small Golem."

Before the teacher could ask him to continue again, the young trainer carried on "After blocking her view again I just got another heavy hit in and started thinking of what to do next. Luckily it wasn't necessary."

The older man thanked Ash for his time, and turned back to his class.

"Uh, Professor?" Ash tried, and succeeded in getting his attention "Do you think I could have a match against you, sir?" he asked, trying to be polite.

"Aren't you getting a little too cocky?" asked Giselle, mirroring the annoyance in many of the students faces.

"What do you mean?" the young trainer really looked confused.

"You think you're just going to beat everyone here!" she complained.

The boy just shrugged and replied "I don't know, I have never seen him battle."

This seemed to confuse a lot of people, including the teacher.

"And what if you loose, Mr. Ketchum?" the older man asked.

With a completely serious face, Ash answered "Then I would like to use your infirmary to treat my pokemon."

There were a few moments of silence, until Giselle spoke again "You don't mind loosing?"

"Of course I do, but that's just what happens when you fight someone stronger then you." he then smiled at the teacher again and said "So, one on one? Real quick?"

Matching Ash's smile, the man said "Very well, I take it you want to fight Magneton?" he asked, following the young man's line of sight.

"Please." said the boy, while nodding.

Giving themselves enough space to battle, the teacher and the trainer faced each other and Ash released his pokemon.

"We're going all out, kitty." he told Meowth.

The Scratch Cat pokemon nodded her agreement and before anyone could say anything else, Ash began the match "Rain Dance."

"Magneton, use Lock-on!" ordered the older man.

"Water Pulse!" Crying her name, Meowth gathered the plenty of the rain on her pawns and launched the attack.

"Now, use Thunder!"

While Magneton released his attack before being hit by Meowth's, Thunder was launched up before coming down and that was all the time Ash needed.

"Dig, now!" ordered Ash with a smile when his attack hit, making the other pokemon groan in pain.

The Thunder left a crater on the ground but Meowth was long gone. When Ash's pokemon came out behind his opponent, she didn't expect Magneton to hit her with a Spark with no orders from it's trainer.

"It's best to teach your pokemon to react to certain situations if you don't have time to give orders." explained the teacher.

But the older man was a little unnerved when the young trainer smiled at him "Yeah, but that's not such an advanced strategy." Ash said.

His opponent turned back to the match immediately, just in time to see Meowth push herself of the tree it should have been smashed against and fly towards Magneton.

"Magneton, use Hyper Beam!" shouted the older man, making Ash's eyes widen a bit.

"Substitute, now!" the boy shouted quickly.

Just as Meowth's Substitute was about to hit Magneton, and Ash was cursing himself for making such a rash decision. The beam was fired, at point blank range and even if it did damage it's user a little there were no traces left of Meowth's copy.

"Do Return, while he can't move." ordered Ash.

Just as the smoke cleared, Meowth appeared jumping straight to her opponent's face. Just as they were about to hit their heads, the Cat pokemon spun in the air and swung her tail sideways. The pink glowing blow hit only one of the Magnemite.

But everyone there was surprised it didn't come off. The whole Magneton was sent spinning and flying straight into a tree, easily snapping it and being buried into another. It didn't twitch or anything, so just for a second, Ash's was worried they had killed the pokemon.

Then the Magnet Pokemon groaned a metallic sound and fell to the floor.

"I think that move is getting a little too strong, kitty." commented Ash, just as surprised as everyone else.


	3. Chapter 3

A Boy and his Cat

AN: Mr. Cant Catch This: Yes, Ash will lose eventually. It won't be against random trainers and I don't think it will be against Gym Leaders. I want to point out that, my Ash is weeks behind his cannon counterpart, location wise. He's been training his pokemon like crazy and battling with Meowth for years now. So when he does lose, it will be a much bigger shock and will always get him thinking, unlike cannon Ash who looses to half the people he battles and refuses to change his training or battling style. And Ash is ten, like cannon, but he will age, unlike cannon.

Mr. 'name': Ash has nicknamed his pokemon, but not in the same sense as in the game. Meowth's name is Meowth, but just like you can call a friend by his name or dude and mate, he can call her kitty. Also, I don't know if you forgot, but I had Jesse and James ARRESTED in the FIRST chapter. I have no plans for either of them.

Chapter 3: New Friend, Old Rival

Ash couldn't help but smile on his way to the Vermillion City Gym. In all of his twenty minutes inside the city's Pokecenter, four trainers came in with injured pokemon and tales of an unbeatable Raichu. Even the kid with the Geodude had gotten his ass handed to him.

But then again, if the man used only that one Raichu, he would know how to counter it's weakness. Still this was going to be one hell of a battle.

Pushing the Gym's door open, Ash found himself in a dark room with two people in it.

"I came to challenge Lt. Surge for the Thunder Badge." he explained, only to be mocked by them.

"Hey, boss! We have another one that needs to be sent to the emergency room." called one of them, but Ash ignored him. He was rather fixated on Surge right now.

When a massive man came into view, the young trainer couldn't help but grin.

"Now that's the first time one of the babies reacted like that! A little cocky aren't you, brat?" he asked.

But Ash just shook his head before answering "Nah, it's just that I can tell that either way, this is going to be fun."

The larger man just grunted and lead the challenger to the battlefield "We're doing this one on one. I have better things to do then wipe the floor with you."

Even in his battle-high, tensed, scared and excited state this man's ego was getting in Ash's nerve. But the battle was starting now and that was all that mattered.

"Go, Raichu. You have a new toy!" smirked Surge, releasing his Mouse pokemon.

Deciding to be fair and smart at the same time, Ash choose his only pokemon that never had a Gym battle before, also the one who had an advantage over Raichu.

"Well, not very creative are you? Raichu, Focus Punch!" shouted Surge, and instantly his pokemon began charging it's attack and running towards Graveler.

"Magnitude." ordered Ash, quickly and happily.

With a small grunt and a little hop, Graveler attacked. Not only did the Magnitude hit Raichu hard, it also destroyed it's Focus Punch.

Smiling Ash ordered "Roll Out!"

But Surge wasn't done, when Raichu regained it's footing he shouted "Focus Blast it!"

And before Graveler could hit the Mouse pokemon, it sent a large yellow orb of energy at her. The attack easily defeated the Roll Out and sent Graveler flying across the room. Just as she would hit the ground and Surge would crack a joke, Ash said "Dig now."

"Have a Focus Punch ready!" countered Surge with a smile "Now what baby? Coming close or not?" he asked.

"Not right now, no." replied Ash with a smile.

With no orders from her trainer, Graveler appeared in the middle of the field, hunched over and focused on something. Just as the Gym leader was about to question it, or try to stop whatever was coming, Ash's pokemon released a loud roar and began a Sandstorm attack.

"Do Rock Polish!" the young trainer ordered, not at all worried about the long gone Focus Punch, lost when the Mouse was damaged by the Sandstorm.

Just as Raichu was hurt a second time by the storm, Surge got him back on the match "Get away from that, Raichu. Dig!"

Raising an eyebrow at the Gym leaders lack of foresight, Ash continued his attack "Magnitude, now!"

With a grunt and a stomp, Graveler attacked again and relished in the Mouse's cry of pain that came from underground. The electric pokemon was thrown out of the floor, straight into the Sandstorm and Ash could see his victory.

"Roll Out, again!" the challenger shouted.

Cursing under his breath, Surge shouted for his pokemon to use Hyper Beam.

Ash narrowed his eyes and choose not to take a risk "Dig, then get behind him!"

Graveler wasn't the fastest of pokemon so even with plenty of time, she barely managed to dodge the Hyper Beam. And by the time she was behind Raichu, the other pokemon could already move again.

"Raichu, Mega Punch!" shouted Surge, with a clenched fist.

"Just take it, it's not going to hurt you, lady." assured Ash, even if his pokemon was not afraid of the pain. After the attack was done, the trainer spoke again "Now, use Stone Edge!"

Roaring her name, Graveler punched the ground and created a triangular piece of rock just as big as Raichu. It was then, with the attack digging painfully on the electric pokemon's stomach that it and it's trainer realized that the Rock pokemon was easily twice as big as Raichu.

While not unconscious, the Mouse pokemon was in so much pain he couldn't move. So Lt. Surge recalled him and gave up the match.

"I guess you weren't a baby after all." said Surge, then he tossed something to Ash and turned his back to the challenger "That's the Thunder Badge, now begone."

Proud and happy with the match, Ash returned his pokemon, after praising it. While walking out, he said his goodbyes to the dumfounded subordinates and wondered why they didn't answer.

"That was a good match." came a voice, from behind Ash, just as he left the Gym "Of course, if you kept your cool, Graveler wouldn't have been hit at all."

"Yeah, but that's no fun, is it?" he asked, turning to see... Giselle? Standing just a little outside the Gym was the girl he had met on Poketech just four days ago.

Raising an eyebrow, Ash smiled all the same and asked "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be at school?"

The girl just shook her head dramatically and poked his chest "After YOU defeated one of the teachers, my daddy didn't want me going there anymore" she explained "After all, what kind of school prides itself on a teacher that lost to some no name trainer from nowhere."

"It was a really good fight!" defended Ash, but the girl didn't seem to care.

"Then, he wanted to send me to some God-forsaken mountain top in Sinnoh!" she huffed "Imagine me, Giselle, freezing in the other side of the world just because the teacher is an actual Gym leader."

"That kind of sounds like a fun school, actually." mussed Ash, only half listening to the girl.

"But I was able to convince daddy that I would do better in the league if I could search for the pokemon I want, instead of settling for the one's available on some school." then she blushed a little, fortunately, too little for someone as dense as Ash to notice "So I figured that I would let you beg me to travel with you. After all, who wouldn't want to travel with someone as smart, beautiful and talented as me."she reasoned.

Surprising sharp, Ash asked "So you came all this way just to travel with me?" he asked, with a huge, carefree and happy smile.

"O-o-of course not!" she stuttered, blushing madly "I came to let you ask for help!" she all but shouted.

"Sure! Help is always welcome!" he smiled "And you're welcome on board too, Giselle!"

Controlling her blush, the girl took a deep breath "So what now? Are you leaving Vermillion already?"

"Nah, I just got here." he mussed for a second, with his hand on his chin and asked "Hey, why don't we have another match? I haven't seen any of your other pokemon!"

Giselle couldn't help but to be a little worried about the boy's one track mind, but there was something about that smile that would hurt to deny "Sure, why noooooooooot?" she ended up shouting as Ash took her hand and pulled her away.

While being dragged towards the arena behind the City's Pokecenter, Giselle couldn't help but both blush and smile a little.

"They're monsters!" Giselle pouted cutely "Every single one of them." she complained.

Ash gave her a smile and said "Yeah, thanks!"

While the pretty girl blinked at Ash's answer, the young trainer went back to his food.

The two kids were having lunch while talking about the match they just had, a three on three with very clear results.

"Whatever!" said Giselle, while running a hand through her hair "So, when am I going to meet the rest of your team?"

But Ash just gained a very puzzled look on his face "What do you mean?" he asked.

The girl sighed dramatically and, running a hand through her hair again, said "The only pokemon of yours that I've meet for the first time today was Primeape."

Ash blinked twice before understanding what was going on "Oh, that's because I only have three, so you've already seen them all."

"What!?" she all but shouted, before blushing red when everyone on the restaurant turned towards her. After hiding for a while, she barely whispered "You've beaten three Gyms with only three Pokemon?"

"Why is that surprising?" the boy asked "You've seem them." he pointed out.

"Oh, right..." Giselle agreed, remembering what Ash's little monsters could do.

The young trainer smiled "Anyway, I was planning on staying in Vermillion City until I can teach Graveler Earthquake, then we can move on. Ok?"

"How long do you think it's going to take?" the girl asked.

"Two days at most, she already know Magnitude and that's supposed to make it a lot easier." he explained "So you have until then to beat Surge."

But the girl in front of him didn't seem to follow "Why would I fight him?" she asked, with a finger on her lips and a confused look on her face.

"Aren't you going to try the league?" asked Ash.

That made Giselle laugh a bit "You let me worry about that, Ash." she declared.

"Well done, Cubone! Now use Bone Club!" shouted Giselle, doing a little twirl and pointing at the opponent.

Instantly, her pokemon obeyed and smacked it's glowing bone against the enemy. Crying it's name pitifully, the Eevee went down hard.

"Ah! Eevee!" cried the woman Giselle was battling.

But the young trainer was not the most gracious of winners "Well, it's to be expected when your fighting me, Giselle." she told her opponent.

"Tsk! Whatever!" said the woman, returning her pokemon and walking away. After a few steps she turned to Ash "I can't leave in good conscience without warning you not to take this route." she said.

"Why not?" asked the very puzzled trainer. There was a single thing different about Ash and that was that now he was carrying two backpacks, but Giselle did ask nicely. Or as nicely as she was capable of.

"There's some crazy Abra a few miles from here." she explained before walking away "It's attacking any and everything around it." she explained, without looking back.

"Aren't Abra really lazy?" mussed Giselle, but then she froze.

Turning slowly she saw just what she had feared, Ash with a huge grin on his face.

"You're going after it, aren't you?" she asked quietly, but Ash shook his head.

"We are!" he declared, grabbing her hand and taking off.

By the time they found the Abra, Giselle didn't know if she was blushing from embarrassment from the hand holding or from running so much. But Ash just had that stupid smile on his face and she could never scold him when the boy was like that.

What lead them to believe that they found the pokemon they were looking for, was the Vulpix that was hurled across their path.

Looking at the side of the road, the two found an Abra. The pokemon was floating with it's legs crossed and one of it's hands outstretched.

"Let's go, kitty." said Ash, while releasing Meowth "Fake Out!" he ordered immediately.

And just as Meowth was about to hit the Psychic type, it disappeared. Abra reappeared right next to Meowth and actually tackled her. When it raised it's hand again, Ash choose to act.

"Bite it!" he ordered and smiled when his pokemon cried her name in agreement, before burying her teeth in Abra's arm.

The wild pokemon actually punched Meowth a few times before realizing that was not the way to get her to let go. Crying it's name, Abra hurled the Cat Scratch pokemon against a tree with Psychic.

Meowth hit the tree hard, but was back in the fight as soon as she hit the floor. By then, Abra had already started using Rest.

"Take your time." instructed Ash with a smile "But hit it with a nice, big Dark Pulse."

Just as Meowth's attack was about to hit the Psychic type, the Rest finished and Abra came back to the match. For only a second, because when the Dark attack hit, it shrieked it's name in pain and fell down, oddly enough, with a smile on it's fox-like face.

When Abra hit the ground, it fell asleep instantly, with that same look of content in it's face. And in another second it was inside Ash's pokeball but had no chance of putting up any kind of fight.

"Did you see that?" Ash asked Giselle "He actually punched Meowth! Now that's an Abra!" he laughed loudly.

"Actually I didn't." admitted the girl "I was capturing a Vulpix..." she said, while scratching her cheek.

"Wait! Why was it attacking everyone?" asked a dumbfounded Giselle, looking at the boy traveling beside her.

"To tire himself out." explained Ash with a small smile "And what better way to do that then fighting?" he asked.

"But an Abra sleeps for eighteen hours a day!"

The other young trainer just gave her a quiet chuckle "Yeah, and when do you sleep the best? After you spent a whole day doing nothing or after you've worked yourself to the bone?"

The shocked expression was becoming so common on Giselle's face that she was afraid it might start getting wrinkled.

"So you've added another crazy little monster to your team..." she complained.

"Yup!" smiled Ash and the conversation was over.

After a while, the silence became too much for both young trainers and they started talking again, not only about pokemon this time. Ash told the girl about Pallet and the start of his journey while Giselle talked about her family, her life and herself, of course.

Oddly enough, Ash kind of liked her self confidence, even if it was a little excessive. The girl was also surprised how refreshing his upbeat attitude was even if just a little tiring.

"So Charles Goodshow is not only your grandfather, he's also the Pokemon League president?" asked a wide eyed Ash.

"Uhhum!" nodded the girl next to him "And he was the one who gave me Cubone, he could see my potential as a trainer from a mile away." she said.

"Wow, but why don't you have his last name?" the boy asked.

"Because he's my maternal grandfather." she explained "So when-"

But her explanation was cut short by a car's honk.

"Hey, Ashy-Boy!" came a voice from behind them.

Turning back, Ash and Giselle found a boy their age actually driving a red convertible. It was the only person who would call Ash, Ashy-Boy, his rival Gary Oak. And his cheerleaders.

"Catch any real pokemon ye-" he stopped and blinked at Giselle. With a blush and an expression full of indignation, he turned to his rival again "How the hell did you, Ashy-Boy, get a girl like that?!" he demanded.

Before the young trainer could answer, Giselle huffed "Get ME? Giselle?! No one get's me!" she declared.

But Gary just rose an eyebrow and gave her a sly smile "Of course not, princess, I should have know better." he said, while thinking 'The only redeeming quality that idiot has is fighting, maybe if I beat him in front of her...'.

The three kids simply ignored the glares the cheerleaders were sending Giselle.

Turning back to his rival, Gary continued "Still, Ashy-Boy I heard you beat Mike but I doubt you know I whipped the floor with Louis."

"Really? Was he good?" asked Ash.

Though his rival just smirked "Nothing compared to me." said the boy "So why don't we see who's the best from Pallet, eh Ashy?"

For the first time, in Giselle's memory, Ash's smile looked predatory "Sounds fun, Gary."

Giselle cleared her throat from her position as judge "This will be a best two out of three match between Barry Oak-"

"IT'S GARY!" shouted the boy's cheering squad.

"Fine, Gary Oak." Giselle corrected herself "And Ash Ketchum. Are both trainers ready? Then begin!"

"I choose Nidorina!" declared Gary, while releasing his pokemon.

Ash took a moment to think and released his pokemon "Primeape." he explained.

"Start with Poison Fang, Nidorina!" shouted Gary and his pokemon obeyed.

Roaring, the Poison Pin pokemon charged towards her opponent, which stood waiting for orders.

"Take it." ordered Ash.

"He doesn't know, what to do! Just give up, why won't you?!" shouted Gary's girls, while the trainer smirked but Giselle just raised an eyebrow.

As soon as Nidorina bit down on Primeape's arm, Ash commanded "Assurance and Cross Chop"

Screeching in anger, Primeape smashed the Poison pokemon against the ground and, ignoring the poison hurting him, attacked again. The Cross Chop sent the Poison pokemon flying.

"Charge'im" Ash ordered and by the time Primeape arrived, he would know if the battle was still on.

"Nidorina, get up and use Ice Beam." shouted the other trainer.

"Dig to dodge it!" called Ash.

Just as the Ice Beam was fired, Primeape buried himself underground and when the attack was done, Gary frowned "Nidorina! Use Protect!"

A moment after the light blue shield surrounded the Poison Pin pokemon, her opponent appeared behind her with a fist cocked back.

Just before his pokemon could strike, Ash smiled and said "Focus Punch, Champ."

The fighting type held a glowing white fist ready to strike, but was suddenly hurt by Nidorina's poison.

'It lost the Focus Punch!' thought Gary with a smirk "Nidorina, drop the Protect and use Poison Fang again!"

Just as the pokemon followed the first order and was about to started on the second one, Ash shouted "Hit her right between the eyes!"

With the loudest screech he could muster, Primeape buried the Focus Punch on Nidorina's face and sent her flying away. It was a while before the pokemon hit the floor and even longer before she stopped rolling. Gary actually had to leave the clearing they were having the match in to return his pokemon.

"Since when were you planning that?" Giselle asked her traveling companion, honestly impressed. Had Ash let his pokemon get poisoned for that single move?

"Since he used Protect." smiled Ash, causing the girl to face-palm.

"You don't plan ahead at all, do you?" she all but whispered.

"Not much. It's just not fun if you do." this time Ash didn't have his normal smile, he had the carefree yet confident one that did weird things to Giselle's heartbeat.

Glaring at his rival, Gary asked, after returning to the battlefield "Why didn't your Primeape lose that Focus Punch?"

But Ash's only answer was smiling, pointing at Primeape with his thumb and saying "The Champ's just awesome."

Looking up from his meal, a Pecha Berry to cure his poison, the Pig Monkey screeched in agreement.

"Ok, let's get the second match started." stated the referee.

When both trainers took their positions and were given the go, Ash released Meowth and announced "Kitty."

What scared Giselle was the glare. The glare sent by Gary to the cute Scratch Cat pokemon. There was so much fire and hatred there that it wouldn't be unreasonable to think Meowth had killed his entire family.

"Finally." Ash's rival smiled sadistically "I get to play with that kitty! I choose you, Arcanine!"

"Flamethrower!" he shouted to his pokemon.

"Double Team, now!" barked Ash and when Arcanine's attack missed he ordered again "Rain Dance."

As one, all the Meowth shouted their names and did a little twirl. Just as they were done, rain started pouring.

"Arcanine, use Sunny Day!" yelled Gary, and just when Arcanine was about to spit out the bright ball of light that would cancel Meowth's move he was hit by a Water Pulse and roared in pain.

"What the Hell?!" demanded Gary "You didn't give that order!" he accused.

But Ash ignored him and smiled "Thunderbolt!" he told his pokemon.

A wet pokemon was a terrific target for a electric attack, so Gary had to move fast "Arcanine, use Protect, quickly!"

The shield was ready in time for Meowth's attack and withstood it without any problems.

"Use Hyper Beam!" shouted Gary as fast as he could.

"Jump very high, kitty!" ordered Ash with a big smile.

"Well, I don't know what you are planning but you just made the damn cat an easier target!" laughed the rival "Arcanine, give it everything you've got!"

The Hyper Beam was fired and connected painfully, so painfully that there was nothing left of Meowth.

"Wait, there's some-" began Gary, but he was cut off.

"Use Return." said Ash, smiling almost amused.

Cursing and admitting to himself that it was going to be a heavy blow, Gary started planning his next move, when Arcanine could move again. But his eyes went wide when Meowth appeared underneath his Fire type and hit it in the stomach, sending the three hundred and forty pounds pokemon flying twenty feet in the air.

"Gary! Gary! Does not loose! You're a cheater! It's a ruse!" cried the cheerleaders while, well, crying.

"Dammit!" shouted Gary, after returning his pokemon he eyed Giselle and then pointed at Ash "Best three out of five!" he demanded.

"I can't believe I have to sleep outside because of you!" complained Giselle, from inside her tent, which Ash had set up.

The young trainer was outside, discovering which of his other pokemon's food Abra wanted to eat, until Ash could cook something just for him.

The boy rubbed his chin in thought, and decided to voice his confusion "What did I do?" he asked.

There was a huff inside the tent, and the answer followed "If you had just accepted Barry's offer, we could be at the next city already!"

Blinking and taking note that Abra chose Meowth's food, the young trainer explained himself, while putting the other samples away "He didn't offer me anything, the ride was only for you."

"Really? I know why he wanted to please me, I'm Giselle after all, but isn't he your friend?" she asked, poking her head outside.

But her traveling partner shook his head "We used to be friends, but then came Meowth." at her confused expression, Ash continued "We fought a lot, but had plenty of fun. Then I had a pokemon and he didn't, I guess what he liked about our friendship/rivalry is that he always used to win. He started using pokemon trainers left with his grandfather to fight us, and every time he lost, he kept getting more bitter."

Tilting her head to the side, something Ash could just barely keep himself from blushing at, Giselle asked "Why would people leave their pokemon with his grandfather?"

"Because the man is Professor Oak."

"Oh." was all she had to say in the matter, so the girl went back inside her tent and wished Ash a good night.

A few minutes later, just when she started drifting of to sleep. Ash's voice came from outside her tent.

"Giselle?" when she groaned her acknowledgment, he continued "Thanks."

"Whaa oor?" she asked through her pillow.

She couldn't see, but the boy was rubbing the back of his head and smiling nervously "For sticking around, instead of going with Gary."

Her sleep completely gone, Giselle clearly heard the tension on his voice.

"Don't worry, Ash. I'm Giselle, I'm much too caring and honorable to just abandon a friend like that."

At her usual confidence, the boy couldn't help but do his normal smile. He laughed a little and said "I'm really glad I'm traveling with you." before going to his sleeping bag, leaving a lightly blushing girl behind. Not that he saw.

The sun was high in the sky and the pair was well on their way. It had been a few days since Ash's battle with his rival, who seemed to have backtracked just to try to put him in his place. Funny how that turned out.

During their traveling, Giselle couldn't help but observe and, somewhat, admire how Ash raised his pokemon. He cooked a different recipe for each one, had different training methods and long notes on every species he had. Along with notes on how his pokemon matched or differed from the rest of their kind.

She was actually in the process of questioning him about most of that. Giselle wasn't above asking for help after all, the girl was just above admitting she was doing that.

"But why don't you just buy food for them?" she asked "There are people paid to research what's best for each type of pokemon!" the girl insisted.

The other young trainer nodded, before explaining "Because the food they make is for the 'usual' pokemon of a certain specie." he even used his fingers to form quotation marks around the word.

"Usual? What are you talking about?"

"Come on! You've seen how different our Graveler are!" chuckled the boy, while readjusting one of the backpacks over his shoulder.

Giselle blinked and tried to think about what he could mean, but came up short "I know yours is HUGE, but that's not because of his diet, right?"

"Really?" Ash asked, truly surprised with her lack of attention "Didn't you notice how mine's a lot darker, while yours is lighter and almost polished?"

"Well... I just figured that was because she was yours. You know, big, mean and scary?" the girl trailed off, after gesturing with her hands. She wasn't afraid to offend him with something like that. She was just waiting for...

"Yeah, it's great isn't it?" Ash asked with a smile "But let me ask you something, have you noticed that your Graveler has a lot less problem with Water types then he should? And a lot more trouble with Fighting types then expected?"

That statement widened Giselle's eyes a bit, after all she was used to bragging about half of that and hiding the other half.

"The opposite is true for my lady." the young trainer admitted, not giving his companion's surprise much thought "That's because she's made of a harder type of rock, which is completely irregular and doesn't let water just flow around it. Like your little Graveler."

"My pokemon happens to be just a little bigger then average! He's not small!" she complained loudly, waving her arms a little.

"Everything is small compared to my lady! Especially your puny Graveler!" shouted Ash, before covering his ears to deny her counter argument. He also started running.

"Dammit... Ket... Chum..!" Giselle complained, as best as she could between breathing heavily and trying to hit him.

The young trainer on the other hand, was completely fine, or at least acting very well, and smiled at her "Look at the bright side, we found a Pokecenter!" he said loudly, pointing forward.

And sure enough, when the girl managed to look, she found the red-topped building that was hidden by the hill the pair ran over. That didn't mean she forgave Ash.

"Ow..." he complained, rubbing the back of his head and grimacing in pain. But otherwise, the boy just accepted his punishment.

Feeling much better, now that justice was served, Giselle combed her hair with her hands and made sure she didn't look like she didn't chase Ash for more then a mile. Then the girl took off, walking calmly towards the Pokecenter.

Once inside, both trainers handed their pokemon to Ms. Joy and asked for two rooms for the night.

"What do we do until dinner?" Giselle asked, knowing Ash he would want to train, but he didn't have any of his pokemon right now. The girl was really curious, wondering if her traveling partner could even function without pokemon in the vicinity.

It took Ash only a moment to answer "I have to make a call" he said, and left.

After a moment of deliberation, Giselle decided that since he didn't ask for privacy, he would receive none.

"An Abra? Really?" asked Professor Oak through the videophone "That's one of the last Pokemon I expected you to capture, Ash. What's next? A Tangela?"

The young trainer shrugged before answering "If I find a good one, I'll catch it." he promised "Now, can you please give me a few pointers on raising a Psychic type? I'll have do my research on one of the computers here, so I won't be needing any books right now."

"Psychic types are a lot of work, Ash. You'll need to figure out in what mindset it will fight best, and find a way to maintain it." the older man explained "Then-"

"So, that's Professor Oak!" came a girl's voice, from somewhere the camera didn't catch.

Before the professor could continue or ask about the speaker, a very pretty girl appeared hovering over Ash's shoulder.

"Hello, professor! My name is Giselle and I'm gracing Ash with my presence." the brunette explained while running a hand through her long hair.

The old man blinked twice, before confirming what he heard "G-Gracing him with your presence?" he asked, raising an eyebrow at the young trainer.

Oblivious to Oak's confusion, Ash smiled and added "Yeah, traveling with her is plenty of fun! Even if it hasn't been too long."

"I see... Good to know you are getting along." he nodded before asking "And, Giselle, please do take care of Ash, you can tell he gets... Excited easily."

While the boy really didn't take offense in the commentary, he felt the need to point something out "I carry everything, I cook and I set up camp. Yes, she really is taking good care of me."

"Oh, please! That's the least you can do to travel with me!" the girl scoffed while the trainer just shrugged.

Their attention was brought back to the screen when the pair heard chuckling "Good, good! You two really are getting along!"

"I suppose." admitted Giselle "Well, now that I've introduced myself, I'll let you too get back to what you were talking about."

"Oh, that's right! I've got to figure out Abra's best fighting mindset!" said Ash, snapping his fingers and leaving calmly.

Professor Oak was momentarily stunned by the boy's one-track mind, before remembering something and shouting "Ash, wait! Your mom wants you to call her!"

That stopped the young man in his tracks, his eyes wide and a shiver running down his spine.

"Ash? What's wrong?" Giselle asked, poking his shoulder.

At first he grimaced, but then he shook his head to get rid of it "I haven't called home since I left it..." he admitted "I wonder how bad the lecture is going to be..." the boy tried to chuckle, but no real sound came out.

Telling himself to man-up, Ash turned back to the phone, said goodbye to Professor Oak and prepared to dial his own number.

AN2: Really sorry for the delay. My excuse is twofold: First, I'm getting my driver's license (which is a lot more complicated in my country then in the US, not that I know how it's done anywhere else) and second, the second half of the chapter, really.

I have a very clear image, in my mind, of how Ash's relationship with Giselle will be years from now. When they're both more comfortable with each other and a good deal more mature. So, I took my time thinking and writing this stage and planning the development, instead of 'winging it' along with the planned story.

Right now, Giselle has a crush on Ash and he thinks she's fun and pretty. A long shot from soul-mates, but we'll get there.


	4. Chapter 4

A Boy and His Cat:

AN: Taking your reviews into consideration, I promise to try and proof read more carefully. One, maybe two, people might have mentioned grammar.

Also, this is the first chapter where OC's play a decent role. I'm only using them to further Ash and Giselle's story, but I might create someone important for the plot later on.

Ms. Allie (and a lot of other people): I'm sorry, but I've had Ash's Kanto team planned from the beginning so I'm not going to add another pokemon there unless there's a ridiculous amount of asking for it. So I had an idea: Johto. If you guys want, you can suggest pokemon from there for him to catch on his next journey! I won't make any polls, but give me your ideas and reasons why and I promise to read and consider.

Mr. weathersageK: The idea behind Meowth knowing so many moves, is that Ash has beeing working with her for years now. He had time to see that Meowth is not the strongest species of pokemon, nor the fastest or the one with the best defense. So he had to find a good way to battle with her. He chose to make her a jack of all trades, since she can't be a master of any.

Thank you for the reviews and I hope you enjoy this chapter.

Chapter 4: Meowth's Stubbornness

"I tried calling **every** Pokecenter and **every** police station in **every** city I could think of! Do you have any idea how worried I was? You've been gone for a whole **month**, Ash Ketchum! And you haven't called me **once**!"

A soft and very cute giggle was heard for the third time since the beginning of the rant. Giselle had decided to give her traveling companion some privacy to get lectured, so she stepped away a little. But even if Ash was using the phone to try and keep things private, his mother was still yelling loud enough for anyone in the room to hear.

"I should make you come home right **now**, young man!" Delia Ketchum threatened loudly "I can't believe you didn't even think of how **worried** I would be!"

That threat had worried Giselle at first, she had to admit that traveling with Ash was fun, but that was the third time Mrs. Ketchum said it and it didn't look like the woman would go through with it. It wasn't like Ash would obey her anyway.

But what amused the young girl the most, was that Ash seemed to have turned off. The boy was really looking apologetic at first, guilty and willing to listen to the verbal lashing.

When Delia started repeating herself for the third time, her son just stopped listening and stared at the screen. He held the phone to his ear, probably because the mother could see him, but didn't really do anything.

Deciding that she had gotten all the blackmail material that would come, Giselle wandered off. There were plenty of trainers in this Pokecenter and she wanted to know what kind of pokemon she could find around here.

* * *

A few hours later found Ash outside, training his new Abra.

"Ok, buddy, I want you to calm down. Breath in and breath out until I tell you what to do next." he told the pokemon, who nodded and got to it.

Despite already being in a meditative position, Abra visibly relaxed. His muscles lost tension and his, already closed, eyes seemed to drop a little more.

Before his pokemon could fall asleep, Ash got to work "Ok, I want you to lift that boulder as fast and as high as you can." he ordered, pointing at the target.

The show the Physic type put on wasn't very impressive, he failed quite miserably at the task. Until he got annoyed. Hissing it's name, Abra launched the boulder twenty feet in the air, but wasn't able to hold it there for long.

When the rock fell, it made quite a crater on the ground, but Ash didn't even look at it.

"What's easier? Pushing or holding?" he asked the Psi Pokemon, who answered by trusting his palm and making the same boulder roll always without much trouble.

The young trainer took a moment to think on that, he also tried to bring back any memories he had from watching Physic pokemon do battle 'Until he evolves I won't be able to teach him any other damaging Physic moves, except of Dream Eater.' he thought, remembering the research he had already done on Abra 'I don't think he would mind learning something like Iron Tail but it's best if I can get him to evolve soon... Maybe if-'

His musings were cut short when someone called his name. Ash turned around to find Giselle coming towards him and he smiled brightly at her.

"Hey, Giselle! Is everything ok?" he asked, not bothered that she interrupted his training, as long as it wasn't for long.

The girl nodded and said "Everything is fine. I just wanted to let you know that a few trainers are going to visit some caves a mile away from here." she explained, looking back at a group of kids around their age "There are supposed to be a lot of Diglett and few Dugtrio there. Do you want to come?"

Ash took a moment to think, but came to his decision quickly "Nah, I don't really want either of those... I'll stay here training Abra. But thanks for the offer." he told her, with the usual easygoing smile.

Giselle just shrugged and answered "Your loss, since your missing my company." she told him, before remembering something "Oh, yeah! I've already asked Nurse Joy for our rooms, here's the key to yours."

Taking the key and thanking the girl, Ash started trying to figure out a way to get Abra sad. Then he sighed, there were still so many emotions for them to get through...

* * *

While she walked through the tunnels, Giselle couldn't help but compare this little adventure to traveling with Ash. It was different, she decided. Different, in this case, meant worse.

It wasn't that much worse, really. But her traveling partner was simply more fun to be around. And while Giselle wasn't, oddly enough, as picky about her pokemon as Ash, she really couldn't respect trainers who just threw their pokeballs at the first ones they saw. There was also the fact that she liked her crush's compliments more. Not a lot more, but one of Ash's was probably worth three of Kevin's.

Kevin was the one, of three guys, whose name she remembered while the other girl was called Clarice. He had shoulder length brown hair and was kind of cute, but wasn't much of a trainer. His Sandshrew had to work really hard to beat an average Diglett, which Kevin had promptly tried to gift Giselle.

"No, thank you. I want to capture my own pokemon." she told him, and the other two boys who offered later and seemed to think she was just refusing that one Diglett.

Clarice on the other hand, wasn't pleased at all with Giselle's presence. Her face was getting red enough to match her hair just from jealousy, thanks to the attention Giselle was getting. But the brunette was used to that by now.

By the time the brunette found a pokemon se wanted, she was really tired of walking. Still, patience some times pays off and this was one of those times. Giselle wasn't rewarded with a healthy and strong looking Diglett, it was a Dugtrio.

"Step aside!" she told the rest of the group "I will catch that one with... Vulpix!" she announced, launching her Fire type's pokeball.

The Fox pokemon had barely touched the ground when the Ground type turned towards her and launched a Tri Attack. Unlike the rest of the group's, Giselle's eyes didn't widen at all.

"Use Will-o-Wisp and dodge, quickly!" she ordered pointing a delicate finger forward.

Her Vulpix spit out a small ball of fire before jumping to the side. The fire attack flew straight between the three parts of the Tri Attack, which didn't even come close the Fire type, and hit Dugtrio in it's middle head.

The Dugtrio did it's best to ignore the burn and started vibrating. And as soon as Giselle understood what was going on, Vulpix was hit by a hard Magnitude. She cried her name in pain, while the wild pokemon launched a Mud-Slap.

"Vulpix!" Giselle yelled, bringing the pokemon's attention to her "Jump high and hit it with a Confuse Ray!"

The jump was enough to dodge the Ground type's attack but it would have dodged the Fox pokemon's counter, if it hadn't been burned by the Will-o-Wisp just then. Acting on Giselle's next orders, Vulpix charged and struck Dugtrio with a Quick Attack while it was wobbling around. That was when the wild pokemon was hit by a pokeball and sucked inside.

It fought hard against capture, but gave up in the end. Giselle gave a little cheer and ran forward to grab the ball but before she could, one of the boys whose name she didn't know picked it up and gave it to her.

"Congratulation, Giselle! That was great!" he told her with a smile. And she would have answered if the other two hadn't ran up to shower her with praise. Acting on instinct, the girl accepted the compliments and didn't even notice the ever growing frown on Clarice's face.

* * *

When she returned to the Pokemon Center, Giselle wasn't surprised at all that Nurse Joy told her Ash was still training behind the building. She was still not surprised when she got there in time to see Meowth dodging the small stones a very frustrated Abra was hurling at it. The Cat Scratch pokemon also took every chance she had to taunt the poor Physic type.

Ash was sitting back and starring intently, noting any and everything he could about his pokemon but nothing of the world around him. He did seem very pleased that his Abra was able to launch the rocks fast and hard enough that they would probably break a bone if they hit. There was also the fact that Meowth was escaping them with ease.

"Ash!" the girl called, not to loudly but it was enough to bring the trainer's attention to her,

He blinked once, getting out of his daze and smiled at her "Giselle! How did it go? Catch anything good?" he asked.

The pretty girl ran a hand through her hair and placed the other on her waist "Of course I did! I'm Giselle." she told him haughtily.

"Yeah, I guess it was expected..." he admitted as a matter of fact, to her pleasure, before turning back to his pokemon. Abra's stones were getting faster and faster, he would probably hit Meowth if it kept going, so Ash chose to break it up now. After all, it would give his Physic type a goal and plenty more frustration to work with.

He returned both his pokemon and turned to his traveling partner "So, want to go have dinner? It's getting late."

Giselle took a moment to pretend to think, before nodding "I suppose I can grace you with my presence." she told him.

To which Ash answered "Great, thanks!" with no sarcasm whatsoever.

* * *

The pair had dinner with Giselle's new 'friends' and it was kind of a tense affair. The boys' envy when they learned that Ash was traveling with their crush was palpable and Clarice still hadn't forgiven Giselle. Not that either the brunette or Ash minded. The boy wasn't easily bothered and Giselle was used to this kind of thing.

"So, Ash, why didn't you come with us today? Are Diglett too much for you?" asked Roger, a rather short dark skinned boy from the group.

Missing the jab by a mile, the young trainer answered happily since it had been a while since he just talked to a boy his age "Not really, I just don't want one. They always looked a little like cowards to me." he admitted with a shrug, then turned back his meal.

Everyone but Giselle was surprised by that statement, the only reason she wasn't was because the girl was expecting something like this.

Bringing everyone's attention to him, Kevin coughed before saying "Well, you should have seen Giselle battling. Her Vulpix was amazing and she captured a Dugtrio!"

That surprised Ash a lot. After all, Vulpix was Giselle's weakest since she had just captured it. Never one to try and solve problems on his own, when there was no need, Ash turned to the brunette "Really? Tell me about it."

Smiling slightly, the girl boasted/told him about the battle. It took Ash just a few sentences to the realize that yes, Giselle did well like always, but the other boy might have exaggerated a little.

"Good job!" he told her when the tale was done, before admitting "I also didn't know how a Dugtrio used Magnitude. Better keep this in mind the next time we battle."

The third boy, a redhead named Eric, chose this moment to speak up "Oh? So you guys battle often? I can only imagine how badly it ends." he taunted, after seeing how good Giselle was he was sure she wiped the floor with this looser daily.

But Ash shock his head and answered "Not really. Giselle's getting pretty strong, it's gets harder to beat her every time."

What surprised Clarice the most, was that the other girl didn't look ashamed at all of loosing often. Meeting her eyes, Giselle raised and eyebrow before defending herself "What? Nobody beats Ash." she told the listeners.

It was Kevin who spoke first "Really? Then why don't I try?" he asked, looking more at the pretty brunette than at the person he was challenging.

"Let me do it, it sounds fun." said Roger, before Ash could answer. Eric said something similar.

When Ash answered he surprised everyone but Giselle, again "I can battle all of you. We'll be staying here for a few days so we have time." he told the group.

Now the three other boy's just had to agree who would fight first.

The arguing took so long, it was decided that Giselle would chose who battled Ash first. Naturally, she chose Kevin, the only one whose name she knew.

* * *

"So... Who do you think is going to win?" Eric asked everyone, but mostly Giselle.

After two "I don't know"s, the pretty girl gave her answer "Ash." it sounded almost like she was talking about the weather around them. An undeniable truth.

It was Eric who asked, again, the question that the others also had "How come you're so sure? You've seen Kevin's Sandshrew and it's not even his strongest."

The brunette shook her head, but didn't take her eyes of the field where the trainers were just about to begin "You can't compare a normal pokemon to one of Ash's little monsters." she told them.

Before anything else could be asked, it started.

"We'll do this two on two, free substitutions." Kevin declared, to which Ash nodded and both threw their pokeballs "I chose Pidgeotto!"

"And I chose Abra!" the other boy announced, loudly.

Neither pokemon touched the ground. Abra floated a few inches above it while Pidgeotto flew high in the sky, until "Pidgeotto! Use Quick Attack!"

The Bird pokemon turned sharply and flew down, straight towards Abra, leaving a white trail behind it. But before it could even get close, Ash made his move "Use Teleport, outside of his eyesight!" he told the Psychic type.

Abra obeyed and simply disappeared, appearing again right in front of Kevin. The Flying pokemon came out of his dive and started flying higher. When it reached it's favorite flight altitude, it caught sight of the opponent again.

"Use Agility! Then Quick Attack again!" Kevin ordered quickly.

The dive was much faster this time, almost too fast to follow, but it still wasn't enough. Just as Pidgeotto was about to reach it's target, Ash spoke "Teleport again, Abra!"

After trying a third Quick Attack with the same results, Kevin finally decided to try another strategy "That's enough, Pidgeotto! Use Twister!"

The Bird Pokemon called it's name loudly, stopped and followed the order. Just like Ash hoped.

Seeing his chance, he acted quickly "Teleport above him and use Psychic!"

Before anyone, but Ash and Abra, could really understand what was going on, the Psychic type was above Pidgeotto with a palm opened towards it. He cried his name and used the frustration, that came from having to just move from spot to spot for so long instead of fighting, to push his enemy way. And straight into the ground.

Pidgeotto crashed head first, twitched a little and fell unconscious. There was silence for a moment, before Kevin asked "What?"

It was Giselle who answered, loud enough for both competitors to hear "Pidgeotto moved too fast for Abra to do that, so Ash had to wait for it to stop." she explained, surprised only by the passive strategy Ash had employed. She expected this kind of push after she saw the Psychic type training with Meowth the other day.

'Then I need to move fast and do a lot of damage quickly... I know!' having come to his decision, Kevin released his next pokemon "Next, I chose Beedrill!"

As soon as the Bug pokemon was out, he gave the first orders "Beedrill, don't stop moving at all! And hit him with a Twineedle!"

Ash could have had Abra dodge the same way as before, but if you use the same strategy enough times even a moron would learn to counter it "I want Protect, now!" he told his pokemon.

Abra obeyed quickly, muttering his name and creating a light blue energy shield in front of himself. The Beedrill hit it hard, but wasn't able to get through and soon enough, both moves where over.

"Iron Tail, now!"

"Use Rage!"

Both pokemon moved quickly, but the fact that Abra received his orders first and that he moved faster then anyone thought his species could, made sure he hit. The Psychic pokemon rolled forward, out of his cross-legged position, and smashed a shinnying white tail against the other pokemon's head. Sending Beedrill to the ground, hard.

Much to everyone's surprise, the Bug pokemon buzzed loudly and completed it's attack. It jabbed Abra's stomach with one of it's needles. The Psychic type cried in pain and was thrown back.

"Great job, Beedrill!" Kevin told it, smiling "Now use-"

But suddenly, Abra was behind it clenching a glowing green fist which he drove into the back of Beedrill's head. The Bug pokemon fell down again and the wound in the other pokemon's stomach seemed to get a little smaller.

The loser of the match pointed a shaking finger at Ash and complained "You didn't tell it to do that!"

The winner shrugged his shoulders with an easy smile "A Psychic type can pick up your thoughts if you think loudly enough." he explained, before adding to himself 'Sometimes.' after all, he tried that again and again during the match but Abra was only able to hear him right at the very end.

* * *

The next day, Ash fought Roger and the result was the same. Except this time it was Primeape that did did all the work. The Fighting type beat three pokemon with no sweat and that got Ash thinking.

Then, the boy decided to test his theory and was now watching a heated battle between his Champ and his starter.

Meowth had just hit Primeape with a powerful Thunderbolt but the larger pokemon just ignored it. He charged straight at her and tried a Karate Chop, which Meowth dodged easily. Then she hit him with a quick Water Pulse but was frozen for just a moment, courtesy of Primeape's Leer.

The Fighting type moved quickly and tried Fury Swipes that Meowth dodged again and again. Then, the Cat Scratch Pokemon used Iron Tail, but it was blocked by a forearm. It looked like it hurt, but Primeape just slapped her away with a glowing purple paw, Assurance.

Ash frowned as he watched his starter pick herself up and try Pay Day. She hurled a few golden coins that hit Primeape hard, but the Fighting type just ignored them and used Bulk Up. Then he screeched and charged again. While the Normal type pokemon was able to dodge a Cross Chop, she couldn't get away from Fury Swipes, thanks to her new injuries. Not the first hit, the second or the third.

Just as Ash was about to intervene, Primeape grabbed hold of his opponent and jumped high. The trainers eyes were wide when he saw his two first pokemon fall down, and only the Fighting type get up.

"That's enough, Champ! You won!" Ash shouted, before he could do anything else.

Primeape celebrated for a moment before he was returned to his pokeball, then Ash turned to the unconscious Meowth and did the same. Then he turned back to the pokemon center.

"Dammit, Kitty... We should have seen this coming." he said, more to himself then anything.

* * *

Giselle had also taken the day to train her pokemon, maybe introduce Dugtrio to the rest of her team. But her new friends didn't seem to want to leave her alone.

"I can see why you travel with that guy." Roger told her "If you can learn how he raises his pokemon..." he trailed off when he noticed the girl was glaring at him.

Her answer was short and simple "I would not lower myself to that!"

The one most surprised by that was Clarice, who quickly asked "So why are you traveling with him?"

Taking her eyes, again, off her Vulpix, who was trying to learn how to make turns during a Quick Attack, the brunette took a page from Ash's book to answer "Because it's fun."

Eric met the two other boy's eyes, before asking for an explanation "Fun? What do you mean?"

"Vulpix! Use Flame Charge!" the pretty girl shouted, all of the sudden, before turning back to boy "What?" she asked, one eyes still on her pokemon.

A little frustrated for losing her attention to the Fire type, Eric repeated his question.

Giselle pouted and took a moment to think, looking cute enough to distract the three boys so much they didn't catch her answer. When they asked for it again, she turned back to her pokemon and huffed "I'm Giselle, I don't repeat myself."

Clarice shook her head at the trio's behavior but told them "She said that Ash is a good trainer, that he's easy to get along with and then she mumbled something I didn't understand."

Anything they could have said, was interrupted by the other girls outrage "I don't mumble! You just failed to hear!" she didn't yell, but spoke rather loudly.

The redhead might have asked her to say it again, but Giselle had already turned back to Vulpix and ordered her to use Flame Charge again. Tired of having her training interrupted, the brunette chose to ignore anything else they said. Not that they said anything useful, the four just sat there telling horror stories about the two pokemon they saw Ash use.

'Huh! Imagine if they ever meet Meowth.' she thought, before focusing on Vulpix again.

* * *

A few hours later, Giselle entered the room that Meowth was occupying. The Cat Scratch pokemon looked pretty beat up but was wake and didn't seem to be in much pain. Obviously because she didn't want to show any weakness, but still if she could act like nothing was wrong it wasn't as bad as it could be.

Having never seen Meowth loose, the brunette was understandably shocked when she heard the pokemon was being treated so she tracked down the pair.

"What happened?" she asked Ash, before turning her eyes to Meowth.

The boy never stopped looking at his starter, but he answered "I had her spar with Primeape and she lost. Badly." he was completely serious and took notice of Meowth's twitch.

The girl's eyes widened comically "But how? She's Meowth! She beat an Arcanine and a Magneton!"

Ash shrugged his shoulder and answered, still focused on the depressed his pokemon "That's because I was telling her what to do. Up front, with no strategy, she can't keep up with an evolved pokemon. Specially-"

His explanation was cut short by Meowth, who repeated her name numerous times sounding angry and defiant.

Giselle looked between the trainer and his pokemon, before asking the only thing she could "Ash? Do you know what she's saying?"

The boy nodded "She's probably talking about a battle she had a few months before we left for our journey. It's the reason she doesn't want to evolve, if I'm not wrong." he stopped to gather his thoughts, but continued without any prompting "I don't know how it started, but when I got there she had beaten a Persian. She probably thinks evolving will make her weaker then she is right now."

Meowth said her name once, almost as if saying "That's right."

Her trainer rolled his eyes and proceeded to destroy that line of thinking "The Persian you beat was wild. It wasn't fed as well as you, wasn't trained and probably didn't know more then Scratch, Quick Attack and the like." he explained to the wounded but defiant pokemon "The only think could you naturaly beat it in is maneuverability while it could have beat you in speed, strength, defense and stamina, if it was properly fed and raised."

The cat was looking a lot more downcast now, and Giselle almost stopped Ash from saying anymore, but this was his pokemon and it wasn't her place to stop this "I will never give you up, Kitty." he said, surprising the two girls who thought this was going to be a straight lecture "If you want to stay a Meowth then I will find a way to counter your weaknesses and work on your strengths. But I want you to know that you will never reach your full potential and that you are making both our jobs a lot harder then they have to be. I won't nag you or bug you to evolve, in fact I won't ever talk about this again, but what you are doing is stupid. It might be your choice, but you are choosing wrong. Being a Persian won't make you weaker and it won't make you any less you."

Then he got up and walked out of the room without another word.

Giselle knew she was somewhat of an intruder on this scene, but she needed to make sure things worked out between those two.

"He really loves you." she told the pokemon, who looked at her with a little surprise and none of the indifference she usually regarded the pretty girl with "Just a little more then it's healthy and I think it really shocked him to see you hurt like this."

Then the brunette left. She also wanted to talk to Ash.

* * *

Ash left the Pokecenter and, as soon as he was far enough, released Graveler and told her "You still haven't mastered Bulldoze. Keep practicing."

The Rock type could easily tell there was something wrong with her trainer, but choose to just do was she was told. Graveler wasn't the most sensitive pokemon out there and she doubted she could help. It was a matter of seconds before she was jumping up and stomping down on the area around them.

The young trainer from Pallet Town used that time frown and think.

One of the reasons he didn't want to catch weak pokemon, besides the obvious one, was that, like any other trainer, he hated to see his pokemon hurt. And he had just allowed one of his pokemon to hurt another. He hadn't made Meowth spar with either of his heavy weights since he thought that they would get better training from each other, and he was right. Primeape and Graveler had grown strong and left Meowth behind. The Cat Scratch simply didn't have the firepower to damage them, without super effective moves and an excellent strategy.

His eyes chased one of Graveler's jumps and the impact afterwords. The Rock type's attack power was truly impressive, but it was easy to see that it had little to no chance of catching a pokemon as fast as Meowth 'That's where the trainer comes in... Figuring out how to hit with that or how to use the opening it leaves when the opponent tries.' he thought to himself, deciding once again that he would work with Meowth's strengths instead of wishing for Persian.

"I-Is that what you're going to use against Roger?"

Turning around, the boy found the only girl amongst Giselle's new friends, Clarice. She wasn't looking at him, but at his Graveler with fear and awe "It's huge." she said quietly.

Ash took one glance at his pokemon before shrugging his shoulders "I just might." he told her in a bored tone. Then he raised an eyebrow at the Rock pokemon, who had stopped her training to look at the newcomer. Graveler got back to work with no more prompting.

"How come all your pokemon are so strong?" she asked him, bringing the boy's attention back to her.

Grateful for the distraction, Ash explained himself "I don't just catch any pokemon and I work really hard at raising them."

She looked at him with big curious eyes "So you only capture strong pokemon?"

He quickly denied it "No. I only catch pokemon that want and like to be strong. Pokemon that don't mind working hard and fighting a lot. If they're working for something they want, it makes my job a lot easier."

It sounded nice, until you remembered just what they wanted. Meowth wanted each and every pokemon around her beat up, Graveler wished to be strong enough that nothing would threaten her territory, Primeape's goal was simple power and Abra wanted a nice long rest.

The girl nodded slowly, absorbing the meaning of his words before asking another question "And what do you mean with 'work really hard at raising them'?"

Ignoring her for a moment, Ash told his Graveler "Curl when you stop going up and fall on only one of your feet!" then he turned to the girl "I make a special type of pokemon food for each of them, figure out their advantages and weak spots and practice everything a lot." he told her with a smile, before turning back to the Rock pokemon.

Not willing to believe in any thing good about Giselle, Clarice quickly acted on her suspicion from earlier "So... Do you cook for Giselle's pokemon as well? Maybe help her train?" she asked, looking like the picture of innocence.

And Ash fell for it "Not at all." he told her, smiling again "She's too proud to ask for help. We don't really train together, we just battle every once in a while."

When she looked a little surprised, Ash noticed but didn't say anything "I see... I might challenge her before I move on." she commented, to which Ash just nodded, not looking at her "She's not that good is she?"

Giselle found the other two kids just in time to hear the last few sentences. Lacking any fear and having no shortage of pride, she answered in the only way she could think of "Of course I am! I suppose you'll see, won't you?"

The brunette looked like the personification of arrogance and while Ash found it amusing, Clarice just got angry.

"Yeah! I will! Tomorrow at ten!" the redhead told the other girl, and left in a hurry without another word.

Not that Giselle minded "Now that she is out of the way, I want to talk to you." she told her traveling partner, who nodded and told his Graveler to keep working.

The girl took a deep breath "I know you have your own way of raising and training your pokemon, I'm not **telling** you to do anything." she clarified and waited for him to nod again, once he did Giselle continued "But I think you might have been a little too harsh on Meowth... She was already injured and-"

"It's because she was injured." Ash explained, not acknowledging the fact that he interrupted her "Because she was weakened that I had a chance to drive my point home. If I talked to her about it in a few days, when the pain was only a memory, she would forget how bad things got because she was too stubborn."

Giselle took a moment to understand what he said, before admitting that there was nothing she could do right now "Do you think you convinced her?" she asked, no longer looking at Ash but joining him and staring at his Graveler.

The boy from Pallet Town closed his eyes and ignored the sound of a pokemon being released and of his companion telling her Graveler to copy his "No, I don't think so."

* * *

Ash woke up late the next day and when he found Giselle, she was already in the middle of her battle.

Her Cubone was fighting a Clefairy and dodging the Rock Tomb it's Metronome created. After the attack was done, the Lonely pokemon used Bonemerang.

"Clefairy, use Minimize to dodge!"

The pokemon obeyed and shrank to a quarter of it's previous size for a moment, after the danger had passed it returned to it's normal form "Now use Metronome again!"

Shouting it's name in agreement, the Fairy pokemon used the move and it's ears started glowing white. They seemed to be gathering energy from the air around them. Since she used to be the best student at Poketech, Giselle was the first to identify the attack.

"Good! Cubone, use Dig, get behind it and hit it with Double Edge!"

The Ground type obeyed his trainer without question and disappeared underground, leaving the Clefairy to charge up and launch a Solarbeam at absolutely nothing. Next, he appeared a few feet behind it and charged straight ahead, crashing into it so hard that Cubone also took a bit of damage.

Giselle smiled to herself, having already seen her victory and gave her next order "Use Bonemerang again! Before it can recover!"

But Clarice countered with the same move as last time "Clefairy! Minimize, quickly!" This time, when both pokemon were done with their attacks, the redheaded trainer tried something different "Use Sing, now!"

All the trainers were fast enough to cover their ears, but Cubone fell fast asleep.

"Good job, Clefairy! Now use Moonlight and Wake-Up Slap!"

Giselle did shout for her pokemon to wake up, but he didn't, not until the healed Clefairy gave him a hand.

"Dammit it! Cubone, use Headbutt!"

With a sound of something hard hitting soft flesh, the Lonely pokemon pushed his opponent back, in time to hear his trainers next orders "Now, Sandstorm!"

In a matter of seconds, both trainers could barely see their pokemon. But what they could see, was enough for Clarice to notice Cubone was gone.

"What?" she asked, just in time for him pop out of the ground behind Clefairy.

With no prompting from Giselle, he used Trash and clubbed his opponent as hard as he could.

Getting over her shock, Clarice shouted "Clefairy! Use Metronome again!"

It's fingers quickly gained a white glow and the Fairy pokemon shouted it's name. Then Cubone smashed his bone against it's face, knocking her out. The Lonely pokemon began stumbling around while his trainer laughed haughtily "I'm not that good, am I?" she asked the other girl.

Clarice ignored her and returned her downed pokemon "You did well, Clefairy! Thank you for your hard work." she told the pokeball, before putting it away and launching another "Now, I chose Butterfree!"

As soon as the Butterfly pokemon was flying above the field, the redhead started the battle "Butterfree, use Stun Spore!"

Despite taking a little damage from the Sandstorm, the attack actually helped carry the Stun Spore everywhere it reached, including Cubone.

"Cubone! Use Bonemerang!"

The pokemon tried to obey, but couldn't move and was left wide open. Something that Clarice didn't hesitate to explore "Now, use Confusion!"

The Butterfree cried it's name in agreement and Cubone cried it's name in pain. The attack was successful and left Cubone sprawled on the hard ground, but he still wasn't knocked out.

"Next, use-"

But Giselle had enough by then "Cubone, return!" she shouted, bringing the Lonely pokemon back inside his pokeball. Then she took a moment to ponder, while ignoring Clarice's smirk completely, and chose her next pokemon.

"Dugtrio! I chose you!" she shouted and released the Mole pokemon.

Dugtrio still hadn't been trained as well as her other pokemon, but he didn't hesitate to obey her orders at all.

"Butterfree, use Poison Powder this time!" Clarice shouted, taking notice of the damage that the Sandstorm had already done to her pokemon and trying to figure out how to end this quickly.

But Giselle had other plans "Dugtrio, use Dig!"

The Ground type was gone in a second and the Poison Powder was left to be scattered by the raging wind. Seconds passed and there was no sign of Dugtrio, which began to get on Clarice's nerves but when Butterfree cried in pain, she understood Giselle's pain.

The Insect type needed a moment to right itself from the last injury cause by the Sandstorm, but Giselle didn't allow it "Come out and use Tri Attack, Dugtrio!"

Butterfree was hit in the back by a triangle of fire, ice and lightning, before giving a pitiful cry of pain and falling down unconscious.

Ash didn't know the battle was two on two, so Giselle's three fans got to her and congratulated her first. Not wanting get mixed with the three that were showering the girl with praise, he just smiledand gave her a thumbs up from far. Then the boy decided to do his good deed for the day and followed the redhead who had stormed off.

* * *

The boy from Pallet Town found Clarice still outside, but on the other side of the Pokecenter. He approached her and said "Good battle, you could have won if you had a pokemon that wasn't damaged by the Sandstorm."

Not wanting to be too much of a sore loser, the girl turned around and thanked him. But when he spoke again, she wished she hadn't.

"You know..." he started "She didn't do anything wrong."

Giving the trainer a death glare and a chance to back off, the redhead asked, almost to nicely "Excuse me?"

Ignoring his fight or flight instincts, Ash explained himself "She just won a match. You shouldn't be mad at her."

"I'm not mad because she won! I'm mad because she's a spoiled daddy's girl who gets everything on a silver platter!" she yelled.

The boy frowned and asked "And how do you know that?"

Crossing her arms and huffing, she answered as if it was obvious "You've seen how those three treat her and then she tells use she used to go to Poketech! I doubt she had to work for anything her whole life!"

"Really?" Ash asked, tilting his head and looking confused "And what about the Dugtrio that beat you?"

Clarice grit her teeth when she was reminded of her defeat, before huffing again and asking "What about it?"

"You all told me she refused the Diglett those three tried to give her, because she wanted to catch her own pokemon."

That made the angry girl stop for a moment, long enough for Ash to continue "Giselle's really pretty and her family is rich, it's true that she had an easier life then most of us. But so what? That doesn't make her a bad person!" the boy wasn't shouting, but he had gotten pretty tired of this girl glaring at Giselle ever since they met, he was also saddened by the fact that his traveling partner was completely used to it "She's not using or taking advantage of anybody, she just enjoys being complimented."

Having no way to deny all that, Clarice was silent until she asked a question "Why do you travel with her? Can you tell me?"

"Yes." he agreed easily "I like being around her, it's fun. We both like strong pokemon, battling and have a lot of pride. It's easy to talk to her and traveling alone is boring."

The answer seemed to surprise her, but then again she didn't know Ash very well "Isn't it because you like her?"

The boy rolled his eyes but answered her question seriously "I do, but not the way you're thinking. We're both ten! I have no idea what those three idiots plan on doing if Giselle actually falls for one of them."

And Clarice didn't know what to say to that. Now that she thought about it, the three boys were being incredibly stupid, not Giselle. And she was as well.

"I have to apologize." she told the boy, who smiled at her and said "Please do."


	5. Chapter 5

A Boy and his Cat:

AN: I think you guys deserve a heads-up about this chapter. I just want to say that... Well, it's not really pokemon until the second half. The first one is about Ash and Giselle. It's not romance, they're still ten, but I guess I want to build their relationship 'on screen' a little more. It won't happen often, but it will happen now.

Mr. SilverGuardian199200, Mr. Dante R Valle and Mr. Immortal Doctor Reid and Mr. sachin6291: Well... Here's the update! Thank you for waiting.

Mr. Vuurvlieg: Is Ash going to capture a pokemon for a reason other then it's potential for battle? No, he isn't. It's not that Ash doesn't value pokemon for anything else. It's just that he wants to create a powerful team for battle. It's actually a little unfair to catch a peaceful pokemon and force it to fight and fight and fight.

Mr. FrankieFine: I really never considered putting Clarice in that role. That doesn't mean it can't happen in the future, with her or some other girl. But right now, no. Not with ten year-olds.

Mr. moomoo: A lot of people have asked for scene breaks and I swear fanfic . net is getting rid of them when I upload the chapters... And you want comedy with Kitty? Wait until she realizes that Giselle has a crush on Ash. I'll give a new meaning to cat fight then.

Mr. McGeezel: I'm glad you like how I write battles, I was worried they might be over too fast for people's tastes.

Mr. noshadowone: I don't want to write a story where everything works perfectly from the start to the end. And I think Meowth's issues with evolving are a good example of the problems that will happen between my main characters. Neither she nor Ash are trying to hurt the other, but they disagree pretty badly in this one subject. But don't worry, eventually one of them will be proven wrong and they will move past the issue.

Mr. weathersageK: I do like your idea but there's a problem... I already have a pokemon for Ash to catch and Meowth to have a rivalry with. On the other hand, when you described the Sneasel I thought of another awesome relationship (not the obvious one) it could have with Meowth. I think you will like it.

Mr. Lerans: Thanks, but I can't answer your question. That would be telling.

Mr. Capito Celcior: I'm going to be honest with you, mate. I hate trade-evolutions too. They make a little sense in some cases but in this two, they're just ridiculous. So... Unless you guys shout out against it... I'm going to pretend there's no such thing. Forgive me? Here's an incentive: I like Pokémon: Eevee Chronicles by Chash123 and The Dragon Tamer by iggychan89. The second one is specially good, in my opinion.

Ms. Luna shadow: My Ash is going to be a competent trainer and he's not bad looking so... Yeah, every once in a while a girl will crush on him. But I won't make him a playboy and this isn't a harem fic.

Also, you guys have no idea how much I wanted to end this chapter in the middle of Ash's Gym battle. It would have been an awesome cliffhanger. I'm sure you guys will know when.

Chapter 5: What a place, Celadon City!

It was around midday when Ash and Giselle arrived in Celadon City. Both were in high spirits, Ash because he would have another gym battle here and Giselle because she had been like that for a while now.

It had been a week since they left the Pokecenter where they met Clarice, but Giselle still remembered those last few day.

While Ash and his Graveler pummeled Eric's team into the ground, the redhead had apologized to Giselle and they started talking. The pretty brunette quickly realized that she didn't get along with the other girl as well as she did with Ash, since Clarice had a lot less patience for her pride. But the girl still became the first female friend Giselle had in a long time. Maybe they wouldn't get along that well, but it was much better then nothing.

Plus, the brunette was really looking forward to Celadon City. She had been here before and was really anxious to do some shopping and enjoy the place.

As soon as they stepped inside the city, Ash spoke "I'm going to go look for a Pokecenter to get give my team a check up and some rest before my gym battle." he told her, before being surprised by her answer.

"No, you are not." the girl said, smiling and refusing to look at the other trainer.

The boy recovered from his shock and demanded an explanation "What? Why?"

Giselle smiled and finally met his eyes "We're not staying at a Pokemon Center this time! I know a great hotel here! I have been in it only once, but I miss it so much!"

Somewhat ashamed of admitting, and not really looking forward to busting her bubble, Ash mumbled "Giselle, I don't have money for that kind of thing..."

This confused the girl greatly before she shrugged and answered "It's ok, Ash! I will pay!"

But that only made him grimace, before he said "I-I don't really feel comfortable with that... It's probably going to be really expensive."

"Don't worry about it!" she said, waving her hand dismissively and continuing on her way.

Ash spent the next few minutes trying to change her mind and failed miserably. She seemed to really be looking forward to showing him this hotel. He stopped when they arrived at a huge skyscraper that left the boy's mouth hanging open.

"Here we are!" she announced happily and skipped inside, stopping only when she noticed that her friend didn't follow.

She walked out to find Ash standing at the same place, with an uncomfortable look on his face. His eyes met her and he took a beep breath, before speaking "Giselle... I can't let you spend this much money on me." he told her but while looking down "I'll stay at the Pokecenter and you can meet me there tomorrow morning to go to the gym, ok?"

The girl quickly protested, but he just grimaced, waved and ran off, after giving her bag back. She was left standing with a sad look on her face in front of the five star hotel.

Giselle walked inside and didn't give any of the expensive and beautiful decoration a second glance, she approached the counter and told the receptionist "I want the Sunset Suite." she told the woman, not in the mood to be polite.

Though a little put off by the girls tone, the woman was a professional and answered politely "I'm sorry, miss, but that room is really expensive. Are you sure you can afford it?" she asked calmly.

Though Giselle was dressed nicely, in a short sleeved pink blouse and designer jeans, she was still a ten year old. The girl reached into her purse and showed the woman a platinum credit card that made her eyes widen "If I could not, I would not have asked for it."

* * *

A few minutes later, the girl was sitting in the couch of the suite's living room frowning. She couldn't understand why Ash didn't want her to pay for him to stay here. The money wouldn't make a difference for her, her family had plenty and he was her first real friend in a long time! She just wanted him to like being her friend... Was it too much to ask?

The brunette sighed and did something she had done a lot more often then Ash, called her parents.

The television worked as a videophone so she dialed the number and sat down on the couch, it was a while before someone picked up.

"Hello?" asked an older man dressed in a tuxedo, he squinted his eyes and asked "Ms. Seyio? Is that you?"

Glad to see the her family's butler, Giselle smiled a little "Yes and hello, Thomas. Tell me, is my mother home?" she asked.

The butler shock his head and watched the girl's face drop in disappointment, which he quickly tried to get rid of "But your grandfather, Mr. Goodshow, is here for the day."

That brightened her mood considerably "Then, please, I would like to speak with him."

The old man nodded and left the room, after a minute another old man, this one dressed in shorts, a long sleeved red shirt and a blue cap greeted Giselle with a smile "Giselle! It's so good to see you, dear! How are you? Has your journey been going well?"

The girl really loved talking to her grandfather, so her previous bad mood disappeared almost completely "Yes, grandfather, it has been going very well. I have captured a Vulpix and a Dugtrio, also my whole team is growing a lot stronger."

The old man smiled brightly at this, though it was hard to see thanks to his ridiculously long beard, then turned serious and spoke "Then tell me what's wrong, child."

Giselle blinked twice in shock, before shaking her head and answering "Do not worry, there is nothing wrong."

"I might have believed that if Thomas hadn't warned of your mood before I saw you." he explained, before getting back on topic "Now tell me what's wrong."

Sighing and cursing the old butler, Giselle talked, despite wanting to have this conversation only with her mother "I have made a friend and traveled with him for the past few weeks." she explained "And I was looking forward to showing him this hotel, the one we stayed in when mother wanted to meet Erika because of her perfumes, but when we got here he wouldn't let me pay for his stay."

It didn't take long the older man to understand the problem, but he chose to help her understand it as well instead of giving her the answer "And did he say why?" he asked.

Giselle nodded and answered "Yes, Ash said he didn't want me to spend so too much money on him. But it makes no difference, we have plenty of money." she complained.

"Maybe not for you." Charles conceded "But I doubt Ash has ever seen the amount of money you have spent on that suite."

"But the money is not his! Why does he care how much I spend?"

Goodshow smiled warmly at his granddaughter now "Because he is a good friend." he explained "He doesn't want you to think he travels with you to stay at places like that."

While the girl processed that information, the grandfather chose to give her some advice "Give him time. Let him get used to the fact that you are a fortunate child, like he got used to your other qualities and flaws, ok?"

Giselle smiled warmly, looking positively radiant, and said "I understand, grandfather."

To that, the old man chuckled "And stop talking like that to me, girl! Loosen up! We're not at court here!"

She bit her lip, but a quiet chuckle escaped "Ok, grandpa." she told him, rolling her eyes.

* * *

Ash was feeding his pokemon, one by one like always, on the lot behind the Pokecenter but his mind was really back at what happened with Giselle. He had never realized just how rich she was and the massive five star hotel kind of caught him by surprise.

The boy could be honest and say that he really didn't care about how much money she had, or about the fact that she was staying at that hotel while he slept at the Pokecenter. But he wasn't happy with how he handled the situation. Ash was a little ashamed of just running off like that but he really wasn't used to that kind of place.

There was also the fact that, despite being pretty charismatic, he had never really had many friends. He got along with the other kids in Pallet just fine, but he had been raising Meowth for the past three years and only talked to Gary often. He didn't want Giselle to think he was some gold digger, she was his friend and he needed to find a way to prove that. But how?

The answer came when a nervous looking teen approached him. The girl had short spiky black hair and chalk white skin, she was a little older then Ash but was more focused on his large and well raised Graveler then on him.

"Hi!" she greeted with a small wave "My name is Mandy and I was wondering... Are you going to enter the Contest tomorrow?"

The boy nodded at her greeting and answered "Well, my name is Ash and what Contest?"

Still eying his Graveler with a awe and a bit of fear, she explained "The Pokemon Contest."

He frowned for a moment, before shaking his head "I don't know what that is, so no. But can you tell me?"

Looking relived, she nodded and smiled "Well, a Pokemon Contest is a competition for trainers. But unlike normal battles, Contests are more focused on showing off how skilled and beautiful your pokemon is than on winning a fight."

Since he wasn't completely sure he understood, Ash tried to confirm his thoughts "So it's a beauty contest for pokemon?" he asked.

Mandy shook her head and explained again "No, it's more then that. It's about showing how well raised and taken care of your pokemon is, more then being just beautiful."

'So that's why she was worried about Graveler, my Lady really is well raised.' then an idea hit him and he smiled a little "Do you think a girl, that's also a very serious trainer, would like to watch a Pokemon Contest?"

The teen was a little surprised by that question, but answered nonetheless "I think so. The aims might be different then in battling, but every trainer and every pokemon there is very serious about it and they all work really hard."

Ash then smiled brightly at her "Great! Do you know when and where it's going to be?"

She nodded and answered "Yes, I do. But you might just want to grab one of the fliers with Nurse Joy. You can even read a bit more about it there."

Nodding, more to himself then to the girl, the boy decided "Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. Thanks!"

The pair exchanged goodbyes and Ash refiled his Graveler's plate. He should just buy some bigger ones, after all both her and Primeape needed multiple servings on this ones. Ash didn't notice the cold, and calculating glance Mandy gave him or the hungry one she sent his pokemon.

* * *

Giselle woke up the next day in a very good mood. The beds in each Pokecenter weren't bad, but camping was simply horrible for a girl like her. Of course, her good mood only lasted until she realized she had overslept. It was close to noon and she should have met Ash hours ago!

Since she was now wide awake, it took no effort for the girl to leave her comfortable bed and take a quick shower. She got dressed, while cursing her alarm clock and decided to just skip breakfast and have lunch with her traveling companion. She could only hope he wasn't angry with her for being late, but still took the time to look her best. Guys forgave pretty girls easier, after all.

When she left the hotel, Giselle realized that she had also made her pokemon miss breakfast and was wondering if they would be angry or just annoyed. Her worries where interrupted by someone calling her name and when the girl turned around, she found Ash.

"Wow! And I only had to call you three times!" he mocked playfully, trying to keep any awkwardness from appearing.

She blinked once, before defending herself "I-I just had much on my mind... I overslept a little."

The boy shrugged and said "Yeah, I did so too. But that's just because my alarm clock was in another building." then he laughed "Meowth was pretty pissed that I almost missed her breakfast but nobody else cared that much."

The brunette smiled a little at the mention of the Scratch Cat Pokemon, Ash really seemed to have accepted that she didn't want to evolve, and cared for her just the same. Then she got a little angry "I'm not an alarm clock!" the girl complained, crossing her arms and glaring a little.

Ash just smiled and changed the subject "Anyway, let's go grab some lunch! We have a busy day ahead of us!" he told the girl.

"Oh! So you are going to challenge the Gym today?" she asked, wondering how long they would stay in the city. There was so much to do in Celadon.

But the young trainer scratched his chin, he felt embarrassed for some reason so chose not to look at Giselle "That was the plan but..."

"But?" she asked, honestly confused and surprised. What could keep Ash away from a Gym battle?

"Well..." he tried again "You talked a lot about this city when we were on our way, so I figured we could enjoy it a little first."

Giselle blinked once, before asking "Enjoy it? How?"

Ash shrugged his shoulders and admitted "I don't really know the place, so you'll have to be the guide, but I've heard about something called a Pokemon Contest. It's going to happen today and doesn't really sound like something either of us would enter, but it could be fun to watch."

Now smiling, the girl spoke her mind "It has been a while since I have seen a Contest in person. Yes, I do want to go."

The boy shook his head but had a smile on his face "Then let's go eat something, it starts at two."

* * *

Lunch could have gone badly, but it didn't. Giselle remembered what her grandfather told her and chose a simple restaurant for them to eat at.

The restaurant could have been a bad one, but it wasn't. The service was nice and the food was good.

The tension could have lasted, but it didn't. The pair ate, fed their pokemon lunch and soon were lost in conversation. Though Giselle wasn't very pleased that, as soon as Ash was out of her eyesight, some older girl had approached him. But the brunette wasn't about to voice her displeasure and admit her crush on the battle maniac. So, she consoled herself with the fact that the 'cougar' had left just as quickly.

"I can see why she would have been afraid of your Graveler, even mine fears it a little." she commented "But it is somewhat disappointing that fear keeps her from feeling challenged, is it not?"

Only years later would Ash understand the why, but he agreed. Fearful of the pretty girl's small smile.

Quickly, the boy changed the subject "Hey, you said you've been to a Contest before, right? How was it?"

"It was really fun! Coordinators, the trainers who enter contests, raise their pokemon in a completely different way from us! My mother took me to plenty of them, I think she wanted me to be a coordinator like her..."

For most of the explanation, Ash had a pleasant smile on his face. With the last line it turned into a smirk "Oh? And you disappointed her just like that? Poor Giselle's mother!"

First the girl's eyes widened, then she caught the smirk and they narrowed "At least I let her know I'm alive more then once a month!" she said, but it didn't work.

"Alive and so far off the path she wanted you in!" he mocked, with the back of one of his hand covering his eyes and the other clutching his chest "Why do you torture her so!?"

"Oh, be quiet!"

* * *

Ash's eyes were wide and he had an incredulous smile on his face "Wow... This guys are really something else!"

The boy and his traveling companion had made it to the Pokemon Contest, and were now watching a Ponita spin around in it's hind legs. While spitting fire. Said fire split into two streams, three feet from the Fire type's head, and fell down like water from a fountain. Nobody seemed to mind that the Fire Type was ruining the floor around it.

"Most contests are not usually at this level." Giselle explained, her eyes never leaving the Ponita "The Celadon City contest gathers a lot of veterans, there are almost no rookies here."

Ash chuckled quietly to himself and commented "If I was into this kind of thing, I would have rushed here as soon as I started my journey!"

Oddly enough, Giselle smiled pleasantly and answered "Me too."

The moment was broken when the show-host announced the next contestant, Mandy. Giselle wasn't pleased at all when Ash shook her shoulder and happily pointed out "That's the girl I told you about!"

Still, she couldn't, unfortunately, deny the teen's skill. With a surprising choice in Muk, she really went all out. First came Poison Gas, a huge cloud of it that the Poison Type used to hide himself. Next, Mandy ordered "Muk, use Mud Bomb." not that anyone saw it happen, since the purple cloud still covered the stage, but the coordinator continued her speaking "And blow it dry!"

It was really easy to see the Sludge Pokemon's now, since it inflated himself to a ridiculous height by breathing in air. Which he blew out with surprising strength, along with the Poison Gas that disappeared just before it reached the audience.

"Use Fling, Muk!" Mandy shouted, to which her pokemon agreed and hurled the, now dry, round piece of rock upwards "And Focus Punch!"

With perfect timing, the poison type destroyed the rock and kept the shrapnel from hitting anyone. Though the largest piece fell just in front of Mandy, and the girl jumped on it before taking a bow. Her gestured was imitated by Muk while the audience cheered loudly.

"Wow!" was Ash said, but Giselle wasn't all that pleased.

"That was very dangerous." she told him, narrowing her eyes at the girl standing on the stage.

Ash blinked and finally realized that his friend wasn't as happy as everyone else on the stadium. In fact, not everyone was happy, it was just that the happy ones were pretty loud. Mostly the adults and parents with children, but there were, here and there, some people glaring at the stage "Huh?" was all the boy asked Giselle.

But she answered anyway "The Poison Gas and the pieces of rock, Ash! They could have seriously hurt someone!"

Now, to be honest, in Ash's opinion when you got involved with two, three feet high creatures that could spit fire, and the like, you should be ready to get hurt every once in a while. But even he could see how almost poisoning an entire audience was a bad thing. Though it seemed that Nurse Joy was the only judge that also realized that.

Still, nobody got hurt and the show went on.

* * *

A while later Ash was shaking at the edge of his seat, as he watched Mandy fight in the Celadon City Contest's final match.

After the appeal round, the the coordinators all changed their pokemon. Mandy choose a Tentacruel. The Water/Poison Type was an incredibly intimidating pokemon, and Ash wanted a crack at it. But that wouldn't happen right now.

"Weepinbell! Use Vine Whip!" her opponent shouted, pointing his index finger towards the target. And in a practiced maneuver, the Flycatcher Pokemon spun on itself and released it's attack. The momentum caused by the spin promised a nasty blow. But Mandy wouldn't allow that.

"Tentacruel, use Barrier to stop the blow!" her pokemon didn't even flinch at the super effective attack, it kept it's angry eyes focused on the opponent and refused to budge. Mandy's points dropped a little, but her opponent's really went down "Now, use use Wrap and Poison Jab!"

With speed that he shouldn't have, Tentacruel charged the Weepinbell. It was too fast for the Flycatcher to dodge "Dammit! Weepinbell, use Stun Spore!"

This time, the Jellyfish pokemon growled while Mandy shouted "Use Poison Jab again!" but her pokemon couldn't move no matter how much it tried.

Her opponent smirked then, and shouted "Weepinbell! Use Giga Drain!" the Grass/Poison Pokemon then planted his huge mouth on one of the Tentacruel's tentacles. Both shined green and the Jellyfish pokemon cried it's name in pain. It then fell down, defeated.

The crowd roared in cheers after watching the amazing battle. Giselle almost joined them, happy that the 'cougar' lost, but she wouldn't be Giselle if she started shouting for someone else.

Another thing that stopped her was that Ash remained on his seat, a confused expression on his face "Ash? What's wrong?" she asked, somehow being heard despite the crowd.

"I don't understand why they stopped fighting..." he explained, but that only confused her more.

"Because the Tentacruel was knocked out." the girl pointed out.

But her traveling companion shook his head "No, it wasn't... That Giga Drain wasn't strong enough..."

When Giselle turned back to the arena, she thought that Mandy looked more resigned then sad or angry. And now the pretty girl was confused too.

* * *

Since Ash wasn't the kind of person that worries too much, it wasn't long before he was back in a good mood. An infectious good mood that had quickly passed to Giselle. All was well while they talked about the battles they had seen and the strategies the coordinators had employed.

And all was still well, in Giselle's opinion, when they went shopping.

Ash didn't agree, specially with how hyper he was now. He wanted to battle someone, anyone! But if he could chose, it would be either the Celadon City's Gym Leader or Mandy. Still, a promise was a promise. He would wait until tomorrow.

* * *

"You know... Erika is a very respect and powerful Gym Leader." Giselle commented while she followed Ash.

And the boy grinned "Yeah! This is gonna be awesome!" he told her.

The pair were on their way to the Celadon Gym, so Ash could have his match. The raven haired trainer had been so pumped that he barely slept at night and woke up incredibly early. And obviously the gym wasn't open yet, not to mention Giselle hadn't even woken up yet.

So, while he waited for his friend to come join him in the Pokecenter, Ash challenged a fellow early riser to a match. The fight was quick, way to quick. The other trainers Pidgeotto managed to score a critical hit against Primeape in the first round, and the Fighting Type's Anger Point came to play.

Primeape demolished the rest of the other boy's first three pokemon by himself, which was enough to get him to quit. Still, the match lasted long enough for Giselle to arrive and they were off to the gym. Not noticing that Ash's victory had attracted someone's attention to them.

"Maybe." she allowed "But don't you think your pokemon should be well rested before you challenge her?" frowning at the carefree boy.

But Ash only shook his head "Don't worry! Primeape is fine and since she usually battles three on three, I'll use Abra and Meowth first. Then he might not have to fight."

Not pleased with the answer, the girl huffed and looked forward instead of at Ash "And if you have to use him? And he loses because he's too tired?" she asked, and the raven haired trained scratched his cheek.

"Well... I guess I'll have to train his stamina."

* * *

"Wow! This place is like a garden!"

Ash smiled warmly while looking at Giselle, it was really rare for him to see her so carefree. Of course, the pretty girl quickly realized that she was acting her age and stopped. Then she blushed and glared at him "Are you not going to go look for the Gym Leader?"

Before he could answer, a voice caught their attention "Erika is in the back, maybe I ask why do you want to speak with her?"

Both their heads turned and they found a young woman. She was wearing a kimono and was pretty enough, with long black hair and dark eyes.

Not that Ash really noticed, he just answered "I want to challenge her to a Gym Battle!" he declared, clenching a fist.

Though the woman looked surprised, she quickly lead them to the Gym leader. They found her sleeping under a tree, but their guide didn't seem surprised. So she quickly woke her up and Ash issued his challenge.

After clearing her throat, the the Gym Leader's aide announced "This will be a three on three battle, between Gym Leader Erika of Celadon City and Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town. Are both trainers ready?" after receiving their nods, she shouted "Then, begin!"

With a slow and calm, almost asleep voice, Erica made the first move "I will start with my Tangela."

On the other hand, Ash shouted at the top of his lungs "Abra! I chose you!"

And suddenly, she was awake "Tangela, use Sleep Powder!"

The Grass Type quickly shook itself and displaced a white haze, which moved quickly towards Abra. At least until Ash gave his order "Teleport, close to the ceiling!" And just like that the Psi Pokemon was out of reach "Now pull it to yourself, Abra!"

It was almost like the Tangela had jumped, except that it was spinning out of control while it went and higher. Not that Erika would just allowed that "When you're close enough, use Bind to grab hold of it!"

The Vine Pokemon was quick to obey. Just like that, Abra was holding not only himself but Tangela with his mind.

Both trainers were quick to attack.

"Mega Drain/ Fire Punch!"

Tangela's attack began first, but it had almost no time to affect Abra. The Psy Pokemon quickly struck with a super effective blow that sent the Grass Type pummeling towards the ground. It was a nasty crash and Erika's pokemon didn't get up.

"Woah! Good job! You really mastered that move, buddy!" Ash congratulated his pokemon while the Gym Leader returned hers. He might have said more, but Abra turned towards him and opened a palm.

Everyone watched as the Psychic Type levitated Meowth's pokeball and released the Cat Scratch Pokemon outside of the arena. Then, staring straight into Meowth's eyes... Abra started glowing white. It took a few moments and then, Kadabra was ready for battle.

The Gym Leader frowned while watching the intimidating sight that was Kadabra "I wanted to save her for the last, but you left me no choice! Go, Gloom!"

Just as the battle was about to start, Ash felt... Something inside his head. It wasn't a voice or a phrase, but he somehow knew his pokemon was talking to him. He saw Kadabra defeating Gloom and then numerous other Grass Types 'You want to fight all of her team, buddy?' then he saw Meowth standing there, slack jawed at Kadabra's power 'Show kitty your power, huh?'

"Gloom, use Bullet Seed!" shouted Erika and her pokemon quickly obeyed.

As the attack flew towards his pokemon, Ash shouted "Dodge it like usual, buddy!" and Kadabra disappeared from where he was standing.

But Erika quickly shouted "To your right, Gloom!" and the second barrage of seeds also flew towards the Psychic Type. Ash's pokemon dodged the same way, and the Gym Leader gave the next order "Shoot at eight o'clock!"

This time, the challenger decided not to move "Send them back with Psychic!" Ash ordered and his pokemon obeyed. And just as he did, Kadabra fell down, his feet tied by the grass he was standing on while Gloom twirled away from the Bullet Seeds.

It took the boy a moment to recognize the Grass Knot attack, but not a second to do the same with the next move "Sunny Day..." he whispered.

"Gloom! Use Solar Beam!"

New images flooded Ash's mind. A new strategy. Straight from his pokemon, asking for permission. The young trainer smirked and gave the go ahead, knowing it was received.

The Psychic pokemon gathered himself and closed his eyes for moment. Just as the beam was about to hit him, Kadabra shouted his name at the top of his lungs and trusted his spoon forward. Nothing happened, and the Solar Beam struck true.

* * *

Meowth sat on her haunches while she watched Kadabra's defeat. She knew he wouldn't be getting up from that blow, it was stronger then anything she could produce and he had never been able to handle her.

She was so sure of that, that her eyes widened to twice their size when the smoke cleared and Kadabra was there, breathing deeply and covered in burns. The Psychic Type didn't even look shaken.

Meowth saw Ash's smirk and watched as Kadabra waved his spoon and nothing happened again.

Erika looked confused, but she had the advantage and wouldn't let that change "Gloom, use Solar Beam again!"

And this time, when the Grass Type pointed it's flower towards the Psi Pokemon... Nothing happened. Again.

"What?" she asked, now completely confused.

Then Ash smiled brightly and explained "That was Disable." then Kadabra was covered by a white aura, and the burn marks began to disappear "This is Recover."

But the Gym Leader wouldn't let him speak anymore "Gloom! Sludge Bomb!"

The Weed Pokemon's cheeks budged and just as it was about to spit the attack out, something hit it. Hard enough that it's entire body snapped back, as if punched in the face. Gloom fell down and didn't get up.

While Ash finished his explanation "And the first one was Future Sight." with a huge smile on his face.

Nobody noticed their hidden watcher. Nobody saw the person leaving, after glaring at Ash and watching Kadabra with greedy eyes.

* * *

Hours later, in the beginning of the evening, Ash was behind Celadon City's Pokecenter watching his Kadabra train. The Psi Pokemon was spinning the spoon in his hands so fast that it was almost a blur, while his eyes shined blue and focused.

The young trainer and his pokemon were alone, despite the early hour. Most trainers had chosen to stay inside after hearing the news. The coordinator who won the last Celadon City Contest had been attacked and had his pokemon stolen. Not that Ash knew. He and Kadabra had been here training for hours now.

The two of them were both excited and frustrated. After all, they had won. Clearly defeated Erika's first two pokemon but they hadn't fought a third one. The Gym Leader had given up after Gloom was defeated.

"No reason to hurt my pokemon in a battle he won't win. That would be simply cruel." she told them and gave Ash the Rainbow Badge.

Too busy complaining inside his head, Ash didn't notice the danger but Kadabra did. The Psi Pokemon used Psychic to pull his trainer towards him, then Teleported in front of Ash. When the raven haired trainer got up, he saw the place he had been standing at completely frozen.

He also saw a Jinx rushing his Kadabra, with it's mouth opened wide and ready for Lick.

Ash didn't think twice "Fire Punch!"

The super effective blow was enough to send Jinx flying, but it didn't pack the punch it should have. That's when Ash realized just how tired his pokemon was. Right on time for both him and Kadabra to be hit with a Silver Wind.

The wind toppled the boy and he grunted in pain, but Kadabra cried his name in suffering. Just as Ash managed to raise his head and look at his pokemon, a large Venomoth swooped down and grabbed hold of the Psychic type with it's legs. Then, a modulated voice shouted "Now, use Leech Life!"

And Kadabra cried once more, so loudly that Ash didn't think twice. He quickly returned his pokemon and turned to the voice. He found a woman, wearing a black Team Rocket uniform and a black ski mask. And he knew exactly what that meant.

"Graveler, Rock Throw! Meowth, hit Jixn with a Dark Pulse!"

But the Team Rocket member didn't let up "Venomoth, dodge and hit Meowth with a confusion! Jinx! Use Protect!"

"Graveler, get in front of Meowth and use Rock Blast! Meowth, fire again!"

All the pokemon obeyed their trainers and moved. Graveler took the blow meant for Meowth and barely flinched, though none of the rocks he threw hit the enemy. Jinx on the other hand, was hit by a second super effective attack and cried in anger and pain.

Ash made the next move "Meowth, hit Venomoth with a Thunderbolt! Graveler use Rock Polish!"

The Rocket Grunt growled and ordered, pointing at Graveler with her middle finger "Venomoth, use Poison Powder!"

The Bug/Poison flapped it's wings and created a strong wind that carried a purple powder, it started before Meowth could release his attack. But kept Venomoth from dodging the Thunderbolt. Not that Meowth could capitalize, since now both him and Graveler were poisoned and in pain.

"Now Venomoth, use Silver Wind on Meowth!"

Ash's mind was working as fast as it could, and it suddenly remembered Jinx.

"Meowth, use Aerial Ace and fly above the Silver Wind! Graveler, use Roll-"

When he finally turned his eyes to the Humanshape Pokemon, it was to see an Ice Beam heading straight for Graveler. It hit dead on and Ash's pokemon was thrown back by the super effective move.

That Rocket Grunt smiled this time and shouted "Go Jinx, hit it with another one! Venomoth, dodge that!"

His first order was a success. Graveler had just been hurt by the poison and couldn't get away in time. But Venomoth didn't even come close to dodging the fast flying Meowth.

Ash watched Graveler go unconscious, defeat for the first time since he was a Geodude. Gritting his teeth, the young trainer threw his next pokeball as close to Jinx as he could "Primeape! Hit it with Fire Punch!"

As if he could feel his trainer's anger, the Pig Monkey Pokemon came out of his pokeball screeching and unleashing his attack. Jinx didn't even see stars. The Ice/Psychic Type flew fast and crashed hard enough against the Pokecenter's wall that it almost broke through.

The woman didn't even think twice, she released her next pokemon while both she and Ash returned their defeated fighters.

In front of Primeape, stood a Machamp "Venomoth! Hit the pig with a Confusion! Machamp, use Cross Chop!"

Ash was absolutely sure Primeape was not going to dodge any of that "Champ, use Helping Hand! Meowth, Aerial Ace on the Machamp!"

Ash's Fighting Type did as he was told and then took both the super effective blow and Machamp's powerful strike. He only took a few steps back.

And Ash waited for the right moment "Now, Primeape! Use Low Kick!"

"Venomoth! Hit Primeape with a Psybeam!" shouted the other trainer.

While Meowth's super effective blow barely turned managed to turn Machamp's head to the side, the Low Kick did a wonderful job of knocking it down. Though the Rocket Fighting Type seemed more angry then hurt while it fell. Then, Primeape was hit by the Psybeam and he screeched in anger and pain.

Ash made another move "Champ, hit Venomoth with Assurance!"

The Bug Type was out like a light, but the Team Rock member wasn't done "Machamp, get up and use Seismic Toss!" then she released a Muk "And you use Sludge Bomb!"

Then Ash realized that his opponent had forgotten about Meowth. And although his kitty did look worse for wear, she wasn't out of the fight yet "Meowth, hit the Machamp in the head with a Return!" he whispered since she was close to him.

While Meowth ran forward with her tail shinning pink, Ash watched as his Fighting Type was crushed between the floor and the Machamp. His enemy's Muk fired the Sludge Bomb in the middle of the smoke cloud and somehow hit, since Primeape screeched in pain. Still, this time Meowth's blow was enough to send the enemy's Fighting Type spinning, though it quickly got to it's feet and glared at the Cat Scratch Pokemon.

"I wasn't planning on taking that Meowth, but after a hit like that..." Ash could almost see her smirk through the mark she was wearing "Both of you, hit Primeape with a Focus Blast!"

The Pig Monkey Pokemon was almost standing when the attacks hit, Ash didn't have time to cry more then "Primeape!" before his strongest pokemon was sent flying by the combined assault. The Champ didn't get up.

Loosing his nerves, Ash nevertheless continued fighting while returning his pokemon "Use Return again!" he told his only pokemon in fighting condition.

And Meowth obeyed, rushing Machamp again, until the other trainer shouted "Machamp, use Scary Face!" and when the Scratch Cat flinched, she also slowed down just a little "And now Cross Chop!"

Ash's Kitty went flying. She fell down in front of him battered, bruised and poisoned. But she got up. She got up and stared first at the Machamp, that she could barely damage, then at Muk that hadn't been hurt yet and finally at Ash.

She said her name once, she sounded defeat and it broke her trainer's heart. Until he realized where she was looking now. At his belt. At a pokeball. At Kadabra's pokeball. Then she started glowing and was quickly replaced by a very injured Persian. And then Kitty charged forward, her tail shinning a blinding pink.

This time, she didn't even notice the Scary Face. Ash's Persian jumped, spun and struck the top of Machamp's head. She sent the giant Fighting Type's chin straight to the ground, finally defeat.

But before Ash could celebrate, the Team Rocket Grunt released a Tentacruel. Big. Intimidating. Familiar... But Ash didn't have time for that "Hit it with a Thunderbolt!" he shouted.

And the other trainer answered "Tentacruel, use Protect! Muk, Sludge Bomb!"

Persian unleashed her attack and quickly dodged Muk's, appearing behind the Sludge Pokemon "Use Shadow Ball!" she heard Ash shout.

While Muk cried in pain, it's trainer gritter her teeth in anger. Then she had an idea "Muk, Harden! Tentacruel, Blizzard! Now!"

Her Poison Type groaned in pain, despite the Harden, when hit by the attack. There was no sign of Persian until she came out of the ground, having used Dig to dodge the wide attack. Just like Ash trained her to do.

"Again!" Ash shouted "Thunderbolt!"

Tentacruel cried in pain after the super effective blow, but it obeyed when it's trainer shouted "Tentacruel, use Poison Jab!"

Confident again, Ash countered "Dodge, Kitty! And Thunderbolt!"

In a huge light show, Persian did so and Tentacruel went down hard. Then, so did she.

With wide eyes, Ash remembered that his pokemon was poisoned. That she was hurt. Before anything else could happen, the young trainer returned Persian to the safety of her pokeball and clutched it to his chest.

"I really didn't expect you to put up this much of a fight, brat." the woman spit out "Now, give me your pokemon and I won't hurt you."

Staring at the woman,who was already angry with him, and her Muk... Ash didn't even hesitate "No." he told her. And took off running.

"Fine." she growled and instead of trying to chase him with a Muk, the woman released a Fearow "Aerial Ace. Send him flying this way." she told her pokemon.

It took only seconds for the Flying Type to overtake Ash and do as it had been told. The raven haired boy fell down with a bleeding arm and a concussion, but he still didn't let go of Persian's pokeball. And that seemed to anger his attacker more. Without any prompting from it's trainer, Fearow descended to attack the boy again.

And in a flash of white light, Kadabra broke free of his pokeball. Half dead and barely standing, Kadabra glared at the Flying Type with all the hate he could muster and pushed his spoon against his foe.

Fearow flew so far that if it had hit anything, there would have been broken bones. But the Flying Type was able to right itself in mid air, and took off against Kadabra this time. Not that the pokemon saw. Ash's Psychic Type had fallen unconscious after his last move.

But Fearow's flight was stopped again, this time by a Flamethrower.

But much like his pokemon, Ash didn't see that. He only had the strength to return Kadabra and hug all of his pokeballs. The boy finally passed out.


End file.
